Introduce A Little Anarchy
by Vessel42
Summary: A teenage serial killer and arsonist faces execution for his crimes. With the help of a mysterious employer, he is "sent" to Equestria for reasons unknown to him. With the burden of his crimes, how will he cope in this new world?
1. Prologue: Hello, this is me!

**Introduce A Little Anarchy…**

**Written By: **Achrones150 (also known as MrGreagoir1 on YouTube)

**Author's Notes:****  
><strong>Welcome to my very first "My Little Pony" story! Just a couple of things I'm going to tell you first off. This will be a "human in Equestria" story, but definitely no self-insertion (that would be too predictable…). Secondly, it will (or will not, depending on how you see it) note some underlying themes as well as popular fan-based beliefs about the show. Thirdly, I _encourage_ ideas from my readers and viewers, so if you could include suggestions in your reviews, that would be great!

That being said, I hope you enjoy this first chapter, as well as the chapters to come!

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><p>Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes <em>chaos<em>.

The common populace would take this as nothing more than a popular movie quote of a charismatic villain, both of which created by the planning of a passionate and visionary director. But there are very few who would dare to apply that concept to the dimension of reality, put forth the belief in a manifestation of itself, and defy the public agenda. The very thought of it would scare the common man, and they would immediately cast it into the wind without a second thought. It doesn't help that the concept was brought about by a madman who wished nothing more than the burning of the world. Only those willing to traverse the pit of the abyss could hold such a belief with a firm, still vigor.

In the beginning, I walked the ravine blindly and without cause, shuffling along with the rest of the beginner souls who were within the same confines as me. I did not know where I was going, and I could never see the path laid before my very eyes. However, as time progressed and I began to understand more and more of where I was, I adapted to what had first been a forever-extending prison and eventually found its weakness. Like a butterfly fresh from the cocoon, I shook off the desires weighing me down and took to the air, escaping the ones who clung to the pitiful chain called "order". Even now, I stand above them all as a symbol of defiance, their chained hands grabbing at my neck in an attempt to silence me forever.

I am an agent of chaos, and I am free.

It all started back to my life in Texas, after my family had moved from the state of Oklahoma. At that particular time, I was only three years old, so I honestly don't remember much about my childhood. My father and mother had a job in... well, it really doesn't matter now, does it? Don't get the wrong idea or anything like that - it's simply because both of them lost their jobs far too early for them to mark any significance. They spent most of their life inside the home, living as best as they could while raising me. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary in my childhood, anything spectacular or anything to write in the history books. For the first seven to eight years of my mortal life, I lived, played, laughed, and cried just like any other child at my age would have. I got into trouble, and I was scolded for it. I did something they believed to be out of my age limit, and everyone praised me for it. I made several friends, though most of them either moved away or either distanced themselves from my life with time. Only two of them would grow up to stick by me to the very end... true friends, indeed.

After those eight years were over with...

...well, that's when it really began to unwind for me.

My parents, jobless and having to endure the cruel life factor of taxes and bills, were not faring well under the stress of the matter. They often argued with one another, and it wasn't uncommon to see at least one of them with a bruise or scar on their skin, and _that_ was minimal. This constant, dogging factor continued to dog them to the point where it effectively snapped the sticks of their patience and scattered them onto the floors. In my late eights, it was only a slap, kick, or punch at first from one. But the level soon increased at an alarming rate, and I soon found myself on the end of their unrestrained anger and their desires to blame someone else for their troubles. Every day when I came home from school, my mother would always hold me down while my father gave me a good thrashing with that leather belt of his - a common punishment out of the many they had for me. I didn't understand at the time, and for that very reason, my hole was dug deeper and deeper. I had become the outlet of their pain, I suffered for their cause, I writhed in agony just to make them smile through their own.

I'm far from the likes of Jesus. But I was still one step higher than the Devil. I continued to live my life with a smile to assure everyone that I was okay and that everything would be fine. I became a puppet on automated strings, a tool to be used and abused. Everything I did and even what I myself did felt like nothing more than a prepared song and dance. My soul continued to surf the crowds of lies and deceit, descending deeper to the point of touching the tip of Hell's flames. But my rebellious body stayed on the surface and took every bit of abuse with the knowledge that both it would be destroyed completely along with my soul if it broke. But my mind? It was the only thing that was not trapped within their prison and the only part of me that could ever be free. I used that to my advantage, sheltering it within the vital innards of my school and keeping it locked within my studies. In the process, I had to distance myself away from everyone else, and they soon began to distance themselves from me as an excuse to use me as a target for ridicule and humiliation.

Remember those two friends I spoke about? The only thing that was keeping me from descending into madness was their company. They shared my pain and embraced it as if it was their very own. From experience in a different way, they could understand where I had come from and what I had to suffer due to the harrassment of life itself. We talked, and we remained silent. We laughed, and we cried. We fought, and we made up. I shared what I learned, what I lived through, and they never made fun of me for it... not even one time. They understood, and even poured back a little bit of their souls into me in order to keep the balance. We were each other's comfort, connecting to one another like a hive mind. In the three years that passed, they helped me withstand the wrath of my parents.

It was then and only then that I realized who and what I was dealing with.

My parents had never been unleashing their wrath on me or using me as an outlet, no no! They were teaching me the ways of chaos! They were showing me how blind I really had been to the world around me, why the majority of my friends fell victim to the times, and what I really was to the ones that tortured me every day of my life. Through the violent physical contact, they were showing me that I wasn't destined to follow in the footsteps of the mechanical beings that make up society! I was destined to be something more than that, a prodigy meant to rise above them all and become _their _Jesus Christ! Everything _had_ been fine, after all! I understood it all, knowing what I had to do in order to pay my debt back to them. I knew what I had to do in order to free myself as well as everyone else from the chains. The path was all too clear to me, and from that point on, at twelve years of age, I took my first steps in walking down those inviting flames.

The first one to be paid back was my mother. She came in from wherever she went earlier than my father, so it wasn't really a problem worrying about them coming at once. To prepare myself ahead of time, I snuck into my old man's room and found Garvey, his precious gift given to him by _his_ father. I waited until Mother was a sleep, then I walked in. All I had to do was lay a pillow on her face lightly enough to keep her from awakening, place the tip of Garvey at level with her face, and pull the trigger in order to ensure she would never have to wake up from her peaceful slumber. Mind you, I'm not cruel to the likes of a woman under any circumstances. Some might say otherwise if they saw me simply leaving her with her head shattered like glass. But alas! Once the soul leaves the body, whatever that is left behind exists as nothing more or less than a shell of one's self.

It was soon after that my father came in, and I once again hid myself in the room where the the shell lay. Once he came in, he found himself distracted by the sight, and I chose that opportunity to knock him out cold. Gathering some rope and duct tape, I tied his arms behind his back and sealed his mouth off so that no one else would have to care. From the kitchen, I grabbed a jagged-edge knife as a means to give him payment of the best kind. As he slept, I grabbed the back of his head and ground the teeth of the knife into his throat. He was quick to help, too; though his screams were muffled, its tone, the warm blood spilling onto my hand, and the feeling of me sawing through the mortal flesh pushed me to keep going. It took a total of three minutes for me to finish up. Once I was done, I took his head and stuffed it into a pre-heated oven in order to ensure that his shell got the same treatment as Mother's.

My last act would be the beginning of the end, focused on the very house itself. With the help of an accelerant, I took a match and set fire to the structure, moving quickly to escape the threat of being consumed by the flames. From a distance away, I watched my home as it was eaten by the beautiful blaze. I'm sorry... I wish I could tell you how it was, but such art cannot be described with mere words alone. If not for the threat of retaliation, I would have just sat down and continued to watch the very last ember die out. As I went into hiding, I was eventually found out by my two companions thanks to the close connection we had. My trust was not misplaced; they did not judge me for what I did, even when I told them in full detail. In fact, they even agreed to help me in my newfound endeavor at the risk of running away from their own lives as well.

If that's not a true friend... then I don't know what is.

For six whole years, we continued to stick to one another as we hid and fled. At first, it was only me they had to worry about hiding. However, it wasn't long before our connection resurfaced itself once again. My desires, accidental or intentional, seeped into the cracks of their own worn souls, and in time they too began to see like I did. We did not waste those seven months simply hiding, no no! We were snakes within the grass, striking at the hapless rats with our flaming tongues and searing teeth. We were referred to by the title of "Neolith's Circus", a name that we ourselves had come up with. It had become familiar with the populace after we left a piece of paper buried within the ash with that very title written onto its flesh. For seven months, we lived in the shadows but ruled with an iron fist and romantic power in our town. For six years, we followed Sherman's path and left nothing but destruction and chaos in our wake. Only the police dared chase us down so drastically and desperately like the hound dogs they were, ruthless and relentless in their endeavour to avenge the poor fools who dared stand between us and our fires.

Sadly, the fun did not last. We were eventually cornered, caught, and caged up. We were all legal adults, and as such, we were marked immediately for death. I myself had lost the ability to fear such things, my mortality having been made all too clear thanks to my dear parents. The others, because of the treacherous chase across Texas, were just as steeled in their resolve. The officers kept us together out of fear that we would react violently if we were not together, and so we waited for our last moments to pass. We made small talk about what happened over the years, coaxing each other to purge any doubt or remnants of remorse and guilt out of our minds. It was useless to feel such emotions at such a time. We would die with dignity, and not one of them would dare say that we went down fearing our oppressors.

At the very least... I thought we were going to die.

When they applied the barbiturate, my entire body had shut down completely. However, even as I lay unmoved to the insertion of the two killing drugs, I began to hear this strange voice. No... it wasn't even a voice, for it spoke no words. I can still remember it as if it was speaking to me right now. It was of masculine identity, and it held this malicious, taunting tone about itself. All it did was perform the normally light-hearted notion of chuckling, but the negative enhancements nullified any sort of happiness that would have otherwise been mistaken to be within. My body... I _had_ to assume that I was still comatose, I had no _choice_! But no matter how dead my nerves were, no matter how long I had stopped breathing, I could _still _feel the demonic and dominant aura around me to the point of suffocation! For the second time in my life, I was thrown into an environment in which I didn't understand anything, and that struck fear within my heart to a magnitude that not even my parents could've raised it to.

That would be true in both the figurative and literal sense.

You can imagine my surprise when I came to in the middle of what looked like a forest.

You could - heck, you probably _did_ see the look on my face when I saw myself not within a dead and decomposed body, but rather a living body of a _horse's_!

But of course, that would be ruining the story of it all if I told you _everything_ within _my_ point of view. In my time here, I have grown to understand everything with my immortal mind as as well as everyone that has dared to get close to me with the ignorance of not knowing who I really was. So I'll tell you exactly how it happened just like I was reading a book. Hopefully, my tale won't be too long - I know you're probably busy, and there's the risk of them finding me before I can finish up.

Hope there's a chair for you to pull up, Yahweh...


	2. Chapter 1: First Meetings Always Suck

**Introduce A Little Anarchy…**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
><strong>Hello again! Achrones here with the very first chapter! (If I didn't edit that part at the beginning of the prologue, then I'm sorry for misleading you).

A side note: I've discovered that most of the more popular stories out there such as "My Little Dashie" and "Cupcakes" are exclusive on Equestria Daily; a rather sad note, considering that there are only spin-offs and fan-based sequels here. Just wanted to give a shout-out to Sgt. Sprinkles and ROBCakeran53 for the good work! Maybe you're out there and you've managed to notice this particular story, maybe not. If you are, I hope that you won't get disappointed.

To all my reviewers, I encourage constructive criticism. The first review I got was rather disappointing, a short and seemingly indifferent message from a passerby reader. Don't feel the need to hide anything, feel free to give suggestions on how to improve the story as well as how I'm doing so far in characterizing the canon peeps (that's always vital). I promise I won't bite, it's your opinion and I'm not going to impose on it (unless it's an obvious troll or flame and not a real review. I have zero tolerance for that).

That's all I have to say for now. Until then, chapter away!

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><p>The world of eighteen-year-old Silas York might as well have been dead.<p>

After that terrifying, taunting voice in his head had faded away, he found himself unable to move himself at all. It wasn't a surprise, considering he had been dosed with lethal injection. What _was_ a surprise was that he could still think, that he had heard it in the first place when death should have closed off his ears. In his current state of mind, he was a mixture of emotions all tossed into a blender, the main ones being that of shock, amazement, fear, and apprehension. Even as the malignant presence around him faded away, they did not. He had no idea what was going on, why he was in this condition, or why he was still alive.

Or at the very least, he _thought_ himself to be alive.

Was this really his conscious mind swimming through an unconscious body, or was it the afterlife? It was not uncommon to believe that life after your inevitable demise was nothing but an eternal blackness that swallowed you up and left you to wallow alone in a void of nothing. Only the atheists believed in such things, and he was not one of them. But the environment around him or the lack of was causing him to lose faith very quickly. The fear of his own ignorance was only accelerating the decomposition of his resolve, a jackhammer drilling and drilling away with reckless abandon. If he still could work his mouth, he would've let out a reckless scream of his own right then and there.

What stopped him was the feeling of a free-fall's end. For a moment, he felt himself collide with something else below him, and his mind blanked out completely, shutting down the fear that surely would've broken him if it continued to rise any higher.

When his mind re-awakened, he did the first instinctive thing that probably anyone would do after waking up from unconsciousness; releasing a groan from his mouth. He licked his lips and did a bit of exercise with his tongue for a moment in an effort to wipe the morning taste from his taste buds. He lifted his eyelids slowly, having to shut them and open them due to their need for adjusting to the sunlight. He took in a deep breath…

It hit him immediately.

He was _breathing_.

That realization made his eyes shoot wide open. He immediately pulled himself up to a sitting position, jerking his head left and right in order to look at the area around him. What he was met with was a variety of shrub and forestry, with trees stretching high and the flowers stretching low to kiss the grassy ground. His ears picked up the sounds of loud, melodic chirping in the treetops – a sound that could be registered for miles due to its continuous pattern. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see a rabbit scurry away, presumably into a safer location after obviously having been startled by his rise. He had no concern for it, more focused on the fact that he was not strapped to a bed and surrounded by his executioners.

"This….certainly isn't Heaven, is it….?" He muttered softly, closing his eyes and sighing. "I'm alive….I'm still alive…." Trying to make sense of his situation, he pressed a palm to his face—

-but stopped short when he realized something.

That wasn't his hand. It was a _hoof_.

"GAH!" He let out a startled yell as he jumped to his feet, eyes widened and pupils shrunken in disbelief. He immediately turned to look at himself. Instead of the slightly tanned Caucasian skin he had as well as the clothes he had been wearing, he was covered in a caramel coat of fur. A black tail jutted out from his rear end, moderately long and completely straight. On both sides of what he assumed had been his buttocks, a tattoo of a blazing fire could be seen along with the figure of a pony sitting in front of it, if one looked closely enough at the latter. As he numbly pressed one of his hooves to his face, he found that his nose and mouth were in the form of an animal's snout. Throughout his self-inspection, his expression still held disbelief and even a bit of fear.

"The hell….?"

Before he could continue with the colorful exclamation, the dreaded voice cut through his thoughts.

"_Ah, I see we're finally awake. Sleep well, Mr. York?"_

His natural instincts kicked in, and he spun around in an attempt to face the person who was speaking to him. But all his vision caught was the green of the forest around him. The familiarity of the voice brought back up that fear within him, and he immediately started to panic, his body tensing up ever so tightly.

It seemed as if the voice could read his emotions. "_Oh, right. I guess I SHOULD tell you about that before you give yourself a heart attack. In all honesty, I was just practicing on a good, evil laugh while I was pulling you here. I mean, where I am right now, it gets quite boring, and sometimes you catch yourself doing stupid things just to pass the time. You know what I mean?"_

"….Who are you?" The casual tone within the voice was now bringing up annoyance, and Silas knew that the source of the voice understood his problem now. His body was slow to stop its panicked state, but his eyes narrowed and a scowl formed onto his face in irritation.

"_Oh, already down to business? And I thought we were going to have a little chat before I send you off on your way!"_ The voice complained, slightly poutish. "_You humans are just too serious for my own good sometimes…."_ It didn't give Silas a chance to question further, transitioning smoothly to the topic at hand. _"But in any case…. I don't really have a name. No name that you need to concern yourself with, anyway."_

"You said that you _pulled_ me here…." Silas's body started to relax at a quicker rate, now that he was certain whatever was speaking to him just wanted to talk for the time being. "What did you mean by that…. And the idea of "sending me off on my—"

"_Hold it, hold it!_" The voice snapped, showing irritation of its own. The response immediately caused Silas to growl out of reflex, but it continued on as if it had heard nothing. "_Too many questions at once is a headache! Let me answer both of those with one simple response…."_ At this point, its tone had turned cheeky again, and he knew that he wasn't going to get the answer he wanted. _"I'm not going to tell you."_

"Why, you-!"

"_You should be more grateful I even saved you at all!_" The voice huffed, once again cutting him off before he could finish a potentially colorful statement. "_If it hadn't been for me, you'd be still on your little bed dying along with your friends. Yet all I get in reward for my good deeds is an interrogation! Just go with the flow, and maybe you'll get your answers sooner than you would've expected."_

"….so, I suppose this means you're not going to explain why I'm a damn _horse_?" Silas muttered bitterly, sitting back down on his newfound haunches and glaring up at the sky. The voice had just confirmed it – to some extent, he was under the control of whoever was speaking to him. It obviously was not something natural to humans. Was it some sort of mischievous mythical god brought to reality by some unknown, supernatural force? He had no idea, and it was annoying him to no end at how ignorant and helpless he felt.

"_Actually, you're a pony_."

"What's the difference?"

"_Well, ponies have thicker manes, tails, and coats, shorter and thicker necks, wider—"_

"Ok, ok, _stop_!" Shutting his eyes, Silas slapped a hoof to his face, a corner of his left eye twitching. "I get it. Why am I a damn _pony_, if that makes you any happier?"

"_For the moment, let's just call it my form of camouflage…."_ The voice said in return, chuckling afterwards. _"Normally in times like this, humans would have to relearn how to walk and run. However, I made sure to fix it so that you would be already adapted for this disguise. A human running around in a pony-infested world would make quite a scene, wouldn't it?"_

"Pony infested—" Silas's expression was now that of confusion and mild apprehension. "Wait a minute. I'm still in Texas, aren't I? You just pulled me from one location to another, didn't you?"

A moment of silence.

Then, a hearty chuckle.

"_Kid, you're not even in KANSAS anymore…."_

That was when a loud roar sounded to his right. Immediately springing onto his hooves once again, Silas turned around to face the source of the noise with a horrified expression, his terror only increasing with the sight of it. It had the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail, and a pair of wings. It bared its teeth, claws digging into the dirt with a clear intent to kill. It growled, body moving in a pose to lunge at its target. The display of might and visual strength was enough to paralyze the stallion where he was, his fear rooting him in place.

"_Have fun testing out those newfound legs of yours, Mr. York. If they don't work…. well, nothing will. Good luck!" _The voice said cheerfully.

That was all the motive needed for Silas to turn around and start running blindly, the beast letting out another ear-splitting roar as it tore after him.

* * *

><p>In the literal treehouse owned by one Fluttershy, the yellow, pink-maned pony in question was busy tending to her own home.<p>

She was humming a light, melodic tune as she was cleaning whatever walls and furniture she could reach with a brush. Although the chore seemed rather tedious to anyone else, she seemed to be enjoying herself as she moved in a natural, glib, and calm rhythm. She wasn't alone in her endeavour, for animals such as birds and small monkeys were helping her out by picking up trash, organizing scattered material, and cleaning the walls with her. At the rate in which they were going, the several hours that she would've had to sacrifice to do the work on her own was drastically shortened down to one or half an hour. It was simply one of the many benefits that she had in the care-taking of animals, albeit she was never one to pay much attention to it.

As she put the finishing touches on her side, she slowed her wing speed and lowered herself down to the ground with a gentle pat on the floor. Her ocean blue eyes cast themselves onto the entrance of her home door, blinking a few times. Her mind wandered, her thoughts focused on her personal pet bunny Angel. At times, the little bunny rabbit scurried off to his own little deeds, giving no indication of where he went. But he always came back before she got too worried about him. Occasionally, she'd go in search of him, always finding him on the outskirts of Everfree Forest. Although she had always been worried for him, she didn't mind his little trips back and forth between the forest and her cottage. After all, he was smart enough to handle himself, and he knew how much she worried about him (much to his occasional chagrin).

"I guess I'd better go check up on him..." She muttered to herself, somewhat nervous. She turned her head towards the animals continuing to work, putting on a small but obvious smile. "Uhm, excuse me? Everyone? You're free to take to take a break now, if you want!" They reacted almost immediately, dropping whatever they were doing and heading off to their own personal accord. It made her smile widen a little more, as she could probably guess that they were exhausted due to their endeavor. "Thank you all so much for helping me today." Passing one more look over her shoulder, she turned back around and exited her home.

Once she shut the door behind her, she took to the air once again, wings beating in a steady rhythm as they boosted her off the ground and into the sky. She flew high enough to gain an overhead, but still detailed view of the surroundings below her. Once she was at that point, she went back to that gentle, steady rhythm, her eyes searching for any sign of Angel. The outskirts of the Everfree Forest wasn't that far, and he was always in the same location when she came. So it wouldn't be a problem for her to sight him out. It was all a matter of fetching him and heading back, right?

She almost stopped in her tracks completely, recoiling back at the sight of a rainbow trail zipping past her with immense speed.

She stopped herself, wings allowing her to hover once again in place and watched. The "bullet" that had sped past her pulled an immediate 180° and closed the distance between it and the yellow mare within milliseconds, the rainbow blur dissipating to reveal a mildly panting Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hey Fluttershy!" She said lightly, chuckling with a wide and toothy grin. "Sorry if I scared you, I was just practicing today." Her body shifted itself, forehooves folded behind her head and her back facing the ground in a manner similar to how one would do a backstroke in water.

"Oh! It's no problem..." Fluttershy assured her, even as her colorful friend idly flew around in her backstroke position. "Don't mind me, I was just looking for Angel. He went off to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest again." She turned her head away slightly, her expression turning a bit shy. "Uhm... since you're here, could you come with me to help me spot him? I mean, of course, if you aren't busy or anything...I don't want to impose."

That caused Rainbow Dash to stop in her tracks, returning to the "normal" hover pose. "Well..." She looked a bit thoughtful, her eyes drifting to their corners towards the sky for a moment before they settled back on Fluttershy. "I really don't have anything else to do but fly around at the moment, so I guess I could help..."

"Great!" The shyness faded back to a cheerful demeanor, and Fluttershy continued down her designated path with a mildly curious Rainbow in tow. Both of them maintained a casual flight pattern, their eyes looking down below for any sign of the white rabbit. "Right this way..."

The trip was rather uneventful between them. Small talk was made as well as a few laughs, but the majority of the flight was spent keeping a constant overwatch. There was also really no time to speak about anything major considering how short the distance between Fluttershy's house and their target destination was. It only took a matter of minutes until they reached the outskirts - the very entrance they had traversed when they had gone into the forest to stop the threat of Nightmare Moon. As soon as their hooves touched the grounds, Fluttershy swept the area with her eyes. "Angel? Angel, you can come out!" She called, a hoof to her mouth.

Rainbow Dash had a hoof to her head, eyes squinted and peering everywhere. "Why _does_ Angel even come around here, anyway?" She questioned. "Even when you're just out on the edge of it, this place is just too... _creepy_, not to mention the animals here aren't exactly very friendly..." Though she naturally kept a tough tone about herself, even she had to admit to herself that just being near the forest was making her tense. Of course, she wasn't going to let herself show it in such a situation...

"Angel doesn't like to stay cooped up or stuck near the house for too long..." Fluttershy explained. "So he goes out in order to get some fresh air. When I come to get him, he'd be waiting for me near this spot." Her tone cleary showed its concern for her pet in the next sentence. "Oh, I hope he didn't get himself into too much trouble this time..."

"Hey, wait!" Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as they acquired something moving within the nearby bushes, catching a flash of white within. Her shout immediately caught Fluttershy's attention. She lifted her hoof from her face to point in that direction. "Is that him?" Lowering her hoof, she was met with a white rabbit scurrying up to them, his black beady eyes opened wide in an expression of concern and alarm.

"Oh, Angel!" Fluttershy trotted up to him, clearly relieved to see that the bunny in question was unharmed. "I'm so glad to see you're o-"

What she didn't expect was the rabbit jumping up to place a paw on her mouth, effectively silencing her. He jumped back down with a slightly annoyed expression as he pointed towards the direction in which he had come from. Understanding immediately, Fluttershy kept quiet and perked her ears up, Rainbow Dash following suit as she stepped right beside companion and pet. Through the natural noise of the anarchist forest, there could be the angered growls and roars of a manticore in the distance as it was obviously attacking something. Yet, as the trio continued to listen, the screams of its prey did not sound like that of just any animal...

The two mares understood immediately.

"Oh no..." Fluttershy gasped, a look of horror coming onto her face.

Rainbow Dash immediately narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, boosting herself up into the air with a violent flair. Her wings beat with an angered flare, and she directed her stern expression towards Fluttershy. "Come on, Fluttershy!" She called out, prompting Angel to leap onto his owner's back. "We've gotta move!" Fluttershy didn't bother to question her, quickly joining her up in the air. They took off in the direction of the noises, moving as fast as their wings could allow them.

* * *

><p>"<em>And I see you are faring out very well, actually. Feeling the burn yet, Mr. York?<em>"

"Words cannot express how much I HATE YOU RIGHT NOW!" Silas snarled, burning with anger and panic as he continued to race blindly in his effort to keep himself ahead of the creature that was pursuing him so relentlessly. His hooves pounded the grass, his legs moved around and leaped over fallen logs, bushes, and even smaller animals who were startled by his movements. Every part of his body was running on nothing but pure adrenaline, his flight instinct pushing him to his limit. Yet, with all of his speed, he didn't seem to be gaining any sort of ground.

_"I'll take that as a no... and since you're in this situation, allow me to explain. What is chasing you down and trying to kill you is called a manticore, something that would be considered a mere legend in your world. This one in particular seems to have quite a temper and relentlessness when pursuing its prey, so I don't think it's going to tire out any time soon. You'd better find a way out of this forest before you start to tire... after all, ever second is crucial..."_

As much as Silas wanted to find and strangle the person speaking to him, he was right. It would be a matter of time until Silas's body gave in. He didn't have to look behind him that the manticore was running on even ground with him, maybe even gaining up on him. His heart was pounding to the point that it seemed like it was going to commit suicide by jumping out of his chest. Sweat matted his coat, and the adrenaline rush was already taking its effect on him. He didn't have a direction to go to, a place to hide out in, or anyone to come pull him out of this plight this time. It was just him and death, all alone with each other...

It didn't help him that in his adrenaline craze, he stumbled over a log. All four legs automatically turned into jelly when his front legs hit the fallen piece of wood, and his body fell down into the dirt with unforgiving force. For a second, his entire body crumpled within itself before the desire to live kicked in once again. Moaning in despair, he struggled to stand himself back up and start running again. However, the moment that he had stumbled into the dirt was the manticore's opportunity to gain the distance it needed and close in on him. As he fought against the mocking pull of gravity, the manticore raised one of its paws and swung, the claws tearing into the pony's flesh.

Silas's scream, a perfect blend of all of his emotions, shook the very forest with its romantic power and was at its loudest that day.

As the pony collapsed to the ground once again on his stomach, the manticore slowed itself down, its bared teeth curled and its intimidating standing over him. Believing it to be beaten and that its hunger would finally be sated, it raised its head and dived down in order to sink the teeth in his neck. What it _didn't_ expect was for the pony to swing his back legs behind him in a bucking maneuver, the hard padding of his hooves slamming into the beast's face. This was enough to force it back, and it let out a roar of pain as it clutched at its face, paws rubbing at the wounded area.

This gave Silas enough time to get back up and continue running. However, his pace was even slower now thanks to the vicious wound delivered to his leg. His breaths were sobbing, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as he continued to run. He could hear the angered cries of the manticore as it once again started to chase him, the headstart that he had gained with the blow proving to be worthless with each and every second that passed. His mind was running on fear and confusion. Once again, he was thrown into a world that he just didn't understand, given life only to have it threatened and imminently taken away. The only thing that could save him right now was a miracle.

He didn't have to wait long for that, for fate had an unusual way of giving it to him.

Through his tear-filled vision, he couldn't bring himself to see that he was running in the direction of a clearing... or more specifically, a downward slope that led straight to a pond. Therefore, he didn't expect his hooves to hit empty air within his next step. With the unintentional leap, he sent himself to fall. He couldn't even bring himself to yell out in surprise as he tumbled violently down the hill, the manticore sliding down slowly as it continued to pursue him. He struck the water, unleashing a small geyser of water into the air and causing a ripping effect that reached the edges of the pond. As he sank underneath the surface, the manticore stood at the pond's edges and waited patiently for him to surface back up. There was no escape and no giving up when it came to the beast and its hunger. Either Silas would drown or become a tasty dinner, as far as it was concerned.

Then, yet another set of hooves decked the animal in the face with much more considerable strength than Silas had put into his own attack, sending it tumbling away from the edge. The force caused the manticore to tumble across the ground for a few seconds before it was able to right itself, its body twisting around in order to meet its next contender. What it saw was a rainbow-maned pegasus flying down on all four hooves, standing with her wings outstretched and a head-up pose to make her even more intimidating. Behind her, a yellow pegasus was muttering repeatedly out of anxiety as it landed in the spot where the manticore had stood. A white rabbit leaped off of its back, joining the "bodyguard" in order to bravely block the manticore's path. Taking in a deep breath, the yellow pegasus jumped into the pond herself to dive in after the wounded Silas. As the manticore stayed within its defensive position, claws digging into the ground, the attacker pegasus merely elicited a growl and lowered herself to a more threatening stance, clearly not intimidated and ready to fight. It went with its instinct in its decision - the prey had called in its own kind in order to help it, keeping the beast from gaining the kill.

With a bitter growl, the manticore turned around and ran off in the direction of the forest, knowing when it was beaten.

"Hmph..."

Rainbow Dash relaxed, an unimpressed look on her face as she watched the manticore retreat before turning her gaze back to a surfacing Fluttershy, who was carrying the unconscious caramel-colored pony out of the water. Both of them were soaked to the bone, and the victim was unconscious. As Fluttershy dragged him and laid him on his side and shook herself off briskly in order to fling out the water from her coat, her as well as Rainbow's eyes cast themselves on the bleeding wound that had been delivered by the manticore. It was a miracle that he had been able to make it as far as to the lake with such a wound delivered...

The stuntmare took command, scooping up the pony as best as she could in her forearms and taking to the air. "I'll get this guy over to the hospital." She assured Fluttershy, who was looking at her with worried eyes. "You just get Angel back over to where _he_ belongs, okay?" Receiving an affirmative nod in response, the pegasus took off once again out of their sight with all of her speed behind her.

The bunny in question simply jumped up and plopped himself onto Fluttershy's back, the events having tired him out as well despite him being mostly a bystander to the whole situation. This kept him from being reminded that she was still somewhat wet. Fluttershy looked over her shoulder with motherly concern, slowly beating her wings and flying to the air. "Oh, you must be so _tired_ after what happened..." She commented softly. "Let's get you to bed right away..."


	3. Chapter 2: Getting Ready For Take 2

**Introduce A Little Anarchy...**

**Author's Notes:**

Hello again! Just wanted to make a note and shout-out to YouTube user "DrDissonace1" for his rather epic covers for MLP songs such as "Night Shift at the Cupcake Factory" and "The Night That Never Ended (Don't Go To Sleep)". Two particularly haunting songs that you all would possibly want to check out if you can. Course, those aren't the only ones at his disposal, as most or all of them are rather epic to listen to. Thanks, Dissonace!

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><p><strong>SUBJECT:<strong> Silas York.

**LOCATION:** Unidentified Equestrian Hospital.

**OBJECTIVE:** Unidentified.

**STATUS:** Stable. Cleared through the first phase of testing, and is currently in recovery. Analysis will be further updated with future results.

"_Only a few minutes into the day and once again you're knocked out. Who knows? Maybe this will be the _second_ best streak you've had in your life, hm?"_

There was three things that Silas could guess about his apparent employer at this early point in time.

The first thing was his personality. From the very start of the string of strange events, he was definitely no friend. Sure, his words had a friendly, nonchalant tone held within every letter and syllable, and his demeanor wasn't outwardly hostile. But Silas, gifted with the ability to see deeper within the soul, could easily tell that every word was spoken out of mockery, sarcasm, and amusement. The source didn't care for the young man's predicament and wouldn't bat an eyelash if he died. The summoning of the so-called manticore made that fact all too true.

This led to the verification of the second guess. The source displayed an extent of control over Silas as well as the environment around him. The recurring ability to speak to Silas through his mind had only been pecking at the theory, but the actions of summoning the man to what appeared to be a place completely different from his own, converting his entire body structure into a pony's, and the alert of his location to the manticore nailed the hammer in with finality. His world was under total control of this otherworldly deity, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The verification of the third guess was simple. Both of these traits made Silas's desire to silence the voice even harder to ignore, even though he knew it would be pointless to make an attempt to find him in this backwards world. So he went with the only alternative he had; striking back verbally in order to preserve his dignity and pride.

"_Go to hell..."_ His voice growled, bitter and vehement as it echoed throughout his own mind along with the source's. The source wasn't phased.

"_Oh. So I see that you're still sore about me sicking that overgrown cat on you._" He said bluntly. "_Rest assured, Mr. York, that was only a test run to see if you truly were compatible with your new body_. _It was really nothing serious._"

"_Nothing serious? I almost got KILLED!"_

"_No~thing serious~"_

But before Silas could retort with an even angrier comment, the source interrupted him once more. "_Now, seeing as you passed with flying colors, I won't be doing any more of those. For the time being, you're on your own. Of course, I'll be keeping a loose watch on you, but my role will be that of a simple observer. Occasionally I'll pop in from time to time to check up on you, but that's just about it."_

This caused Silas to lapse into a silence, but his bitterness was still evident to the source.

"_Oh, come on!"_ The source complained, annoyed and displeased. "_I just basically told you that _I _would leave you _alone_! You know, stop annoying you despite how _fun _it is to see you _angry_?_ Ugh..._this is why I don't do people favors_. _No one appreciates my good deeds at all..._"

Silas's mood transitioned briefly to one of surprise when he started to receive feeling within his body again, his nervous system kicking itself back into gear.

"_Ah..."_ The source commented lightly. "_I see it's time to wake up_. _Remember, Mr. York, you will be all on your own. Interaction, accommodations, and sustenance will be all up to you. Enjoy your stay, here in good old Equestria!_"

The source fell silent and the presence within Silas's mind faded, allowing him to breathe a little bit easier. Of course, that didn't shake off his awareness of the situation at hand. As far as he was concerned, he was a dog within this being's control that was being allowed to run in a confined area. It wasn't a time of celebration, knowing that the leash could be put back around his neck at any given minute. If he wanted any hope of breaking out, he would have to start out with getting himself acquainted with the realm he had been involuntarily placed in.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and was rewarded with an overhead light shining its rays down on his vision. He winced, squinting his eyelids for a brief second before pulling them back to a normal level. When they roamed around to check his surroundings, they took in the sight of a white, moderately small, and visually sterile room. Taking in a deep breath, he propped himself up from his laying position and found himself under a thin, white sheet. Had the source chose not to speak with him earlier, he would have expected himself to be eaten alive by that fearsome manticore.

But as it was, he breathed a sigh of relief to see himself in the bed of a hospital room. Even if it _was_ the product of a mechanical society, it was also a preserver of life that allowed people to stave off the threat of premature death. But who had brought him here? After all, it was obvious that he didn't walk here in his unconscious state. He placed a hoof to his forehead in an attempt to force possibilities to the surface, resting another hoof on his leg.

"Ah! I see you're awake!"

A politely cheerful and feminine voice made his head snap to the entrance door, his eyes catching the figure of a white horse stepping into the room. He checked her appearance quickly out of fear that she would get some sort of wrong idea. Like him, she had a mane and tail of a matching color. The difference was that hers was a light pink, a complimentary color to her coat. Gracing her buttocks was a tattoo of her own: Dark blue eyes stared into his chocolate brown ones with an emotion that could only be sighted out from the likes of a kind caretaker. This trait, as well as the heartwarming smile, magnified this. Her presence prompted Silas to relax himself from his tension, and he gave a weak smile back as she trotted towards him.

As much as it pained him to do it, he would have to thank his "employer" for informing him ahead of time. Otherwise he would have freaked out at the sight of a horse talking in plain English.

He had to break off his smile to wince slightly at a slight and sharp pain in his head, placing a hoof back onto his forehead, one of his eyes closed. "Honestly...?" He grunted, massaging his temples tenderly. "I think it would've been better if I stayed asleep. This headache is rather agitating!"

This earned him a short laugh from the nurse as she stopped right at his bedside. "That will come to pass..." She assured him. "You've been out for a few hours, so it's not expected for ponies to adjust to seeing light so quickly." As he lowered his foreleg, the nurse's expression as well as her tone changed from politely cheerful to slightly worried with a smooth transition. "I _am_ glad that Rainbow Dash brought you in here as quickly as she did... the wound on your leg was quite the nasty one-"

"Wait a minute." Silas interrupted, eyes furrowed and then widened in confusion at the mention of the rainbow-maned pegasus. "Rainbow...Dash...?"

"Oh!" The nurse gently facepalmed herself, slightly embarrassed. "That's right, where are my manners today? I'm telling you all of this and I haven't even given you any names yet!" She lowered her hoof back down and gestured to herself with it, revealing that gentle smile of hers. "I'm Nurse Redheart, and Rainbow Dash was the one who brought you in here after chasing that manticore off. If you happen to see her, you should thank her."

Silas raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Right... well, to start off, my name's Silas York." He said, closing his eyes and lying back into his bed. He tried to keep his voice casual. "Secondly, how would I even know who this Rainbow Dash even is?"

"Oh..." Redheart walked over to the other side of his bed, Silas's curious eyes opening and following her with every step she made. "She's quite easy to spot. You'll know once you cross that bridge. Now, please excuse me a minute, Mr. York. I'll have to check your bandages to see if they need changing..." Once she stopped again, she grabbed the blanket with her hoof and slowly pulled the sheets back in order to reveal the affected left leg.

Silas winced upon seeing the size and thickness of the bandage wrapped around his thigh. Through the course of his mortal life, injuries of various kinds had been delivered to him, most of the moderate in damage. However, wounds that threatened his physique and stature were non-existent. To see such decoration of the blow dealt to him didn't suit him at all. "Good God!" He exclaimed, looking on as the nurse checked his wounds. "Was my leg about to fall _off_?"

"It wasn't that bad, fortunately..." The nurse said. "But it _is _enough to keep you from running a race anytime soon. Good news is that from the looks of it, your cast doesn't need changing as of now. You'll have to come in a week so we can change your cast and check up on that injury. For the most part, you're good to go!"

"Really?" Silas had initially assumed that he was going to be bedridden due to the severity of his injury. He meant no offense to the genuinely kind nurse, but he wasn't fond of hospitals due to their sterility, the overwhelming cleanliness, and the feeling of helplessness he got when lying in the bed that he was in now. So when the nurse spoke that statement, he was quick to spring up with eagerness. "You mean I can actually leave?" He asked her, a happy smile gracing his face.

She was surprised at his prepared response, but put on a satisfied smile of her own. "You're going to have to take it easy on that leg. No strenuous activity like running until I can make sure it's better. Now...do be careful..." As Silas was trying to slide off of the bed, she raised herself to her hind legs hefted a foreleg over what he assumed where he would have had shoulders in order to support him as best as she could.

He let out a grunt as he touched the ground again with all four of his hooves, turning his head to give a grateful look. "Thank you, Miss Redheart..." He said, maintaining a polite tone of his own. "I know it's your job... but I..." He had to choose his next words carefully, for he was sure she wouldn't understand his situation. "I'm a bit of a stranger around these parts, and...well..." He offered a sheepish smile, finding himself at the rope of his prepared statement. "I guess that's why one would find me stumbling in the forest as I was..."

Redheart placed a hoof on his shoulder and gave it a re-assuring pat before setting it back down to the ground. "Well, there's nothing to worry about now. You sure you can walk on your own?"

"Yeah...I'll be fine. Though...um..." Silas turned away, hanging his head a little and finding a sudden interest in pawing at the ground with one of his front hooves. "...could you show me...like...where the exit is?" It was an embarrassing question. After all, who would bring themselves to ask something that nearly everyone within knew about? Even if he _did_ have an excuse, that didn't make it any less awkward. He was sure the nurse was going to laugh at him for his cluelessness.

However, she seemed to take it in stride. She let out a light gasp of surprise. "Oh, of course!" She exclaimed, walking past him in order to take the lead. "Please follow me.."

Thankfully for him, she didn't notice the relief washing over his face as he followed her through the corridors. He took his time to look around and inspect the place. To him, there was nothing spectacular compared to the room he had just been in. As the two passed by several rooms with their doors open, he could see other nurses tending to patients. All of them were horses, just like him and Redheart. There were no signs of human activity, no one of his own kind, and no one that could help him relate to his fate. It made him feel that much more isolated and alone within the sterile and mechanically cold environment he was in.

So cold...

So pitiless...

So full of _death_...

Before he realized it, he had hung his head in the manner similar to a scared and demoralized animal. The slight whimper that came from his lips was enough to draw Redheart's attention towards him. She turned towards him with a slightly concerned look. "Mr. York...?" She asked, her tone uncertain. "Are you all right?" That seemed to snap him out of his reverie for a moment, and he jerked his head up to meet her gaze in a startled fashion. The surprise was brief, only lasting for a second before reverting back to his sad state.

"Y...yeah...I'm fine..."

Of course, his attempt to reassure her wasn't convincing enough. She regarded him for a few moments more before hesitatingly turning her head away from him. She said nothing more, allowing for a sense of grim relief. At the same time, it allowed him to come back to his darkened state of mind. Realization had been a meteor crashing into his mind, granting him the right to fully grasp his situation at hand. Although he was alive, only he had been graced with the miracle bestowed upon him by his employer. The friends he had stuck by for all of his life were dead and gone to their respective afterlives. In the world he did not understand and was scared of, he was all alone. It almost made death a lot more inviting and his employer a lot more cruel.

_Almost_.

It took all of his will not to start crying right then and there, and he barely registered the nurse's standard calls of farewell as he exited the hospital doors.

When he raised his head up in order to see where he was going, he was hit with a brilliant light that made him recoil, one of his forelegs raising up to shield his face.

"Damn it..." He muttered under his breath, aggravated by the initial glare of the sun. He stood there for a few moments, blinking a few times in order to force his eyes to adjust before putting his foreleg back down. With furrowed eyebrows, he stared at the scene in front of him. It was a _festival_ of ponies, each one easily recognizable from the other. They were talking, laughing, walking and roaming what appeared to be a village. Compared to what he saw in the hospital, it was an extremely nice setting to see and experience. It even brought a weak smile to his face, his own troubles pushed to the back of his mind.

"_I guess that wherever I start at... it can't be too difficult, can it?"_ He thought to himself, making his first steps into his new life.

* * *

><p>"...and the next thing I know, she's all hog-tied and tangled up in a tree like a pinata going "Uh... little help?"" Applejack finished up, earning a energetic fit of laughter from the rest of her friends sitting on the red and white cloth... with the exception of a rather annoyed Rainbow Dash, who kept silent with her ears flopped downwards and the scowl clear on her face.<p>

It was the trademark day within Ponyville. Celestia's afternoon sun acted as a beacon for the souls that were roaming the earth below. In the case of the Mane 6, it served as the overhead light for a hang-out picnic. It had been about three hours since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had rescued the stranger pony from the wrath of the manticore, but neither pegasus had the mind to bring it up to their friends. It wasn't out of a reluctance to do so, but out of the fact that their minds had let it slip for the time being in the heat of the cheer. It didn't help that Applejack's retelling of an unfortunate incident that had befallen Rainbow Dash earlier was distracting them further from the idea.

Rainbow Dash, after transporting the colt to the hospital and exiting swiftly, had fallen victim to boredom. She had flown around for a while, taken a short nap in the clouds, and flown around again in order to alleviate it, but to no avail. Because the picnic had been planned out ahead of time, she couldn't bring herself to do anything other than perform aimless aerial maneuvers. It was natural that her movements would become more and more aimless over time, her mind slipping into obliviousness as a result. This was one of the many reasons she crashed into random obstacles time and time again, whether those obstacles were inanimate objects or actual ponies. This recent incident had occurred shortly before the initiation of the picnic, involving Applejack's rope when she was teaching her little sister Apple Bloom and showing Big Macintosh a lasso trick.

Needless to say, all three of them got quite a laugh when Rainbow Dash sailed right into the open lasso shape, tangled herself, crashed into a tree, and hung herself by the legs from a low tree branch.

With the images still fresh in her mind, the rainbow-maned pony allowed her scowl to remain on her face for all to see. It earned her a friendly nudge from Applejack, who gave an earnest and playful smile in her direction. "Ah, I'm just kiddin' around with ya, Dash. You know that!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Rainbow Dash grumbled, perking her ears back up and rolling her eyes. The laughter died down immediately afterwards so that she could speak. "So I crashed today. Whoop-de-doo!" To emphasize her sarcasm, she waved her arms around for a brief moment before lowering them back to her front. "It's not like this is the first time I've managed to hit something."

"Well..." Chuckling a little, Twilight Sparkle decided to speak up. "At least it didn't come empty-handed this time. After all, if you didn't happen to drop on by, Applejack would've been stuck doing the food preparations by herself." She caught Applejack's face shifting from teasing to surprised, those green eyes falling onto her. But she continued to speak. "We haven't exactly forgotten how stubborn you can be when it comes to receiving help."

"Oh, don't you start up with that, Twilight!" Applejack protested, huffing. "Ah learned mah lesson! Ah would've asked for help..." However, her voice and countenance became more and more sheepish. "Well...uh... I would've came up to it eventually..."

"Eventually, she says..." Rarity sniffed, earning another brief set of laughter from the other four ponies as well as a pouting and exasperated look from Applejack.

"Speaking of help..." Fluttershy piped in. "There was somepony Rainbow Dash and I found on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. He was being chase-"

She didn't get out anything else, as the four ponies who were unaware of their passed situation converged on her before she could finish up with her sentence. They didn't hesitate to express their own reactions of shock and awe to the pink-maned pony, and for a moment, she regretted having said anything at all.

"You actually went into the Everfree Forest? Darling, what in heaven's name were you_ thinking_?" Rarity.

"Yeah! We've already seen what kinds of dangers there are in there!" Twilight.

"For all _we_ know, y'all could've been jumped by another _manticore_!" Applejack.

"You went there _again_? Ooh, ooh! What kinds of fun did you girls have!" Last but not least, Pinkie Pie... and her response drew bewildered looks from her friends. In response, she looked back at them as if they had grown two heads themselves. "What? If somepony goes somewhere more than once, obviously it means that they're having some sort of fun, right?"

"Guys, guys!" Seeing Fluttershy being pressured by the group, Rainbow Dash decided to step in. She moved in front of Fluttershy and placed her forehooves out in front of her to get their attention. "Don't sweat it! If we hadn't been there when we did, a manticore would've been _eating_ the hapless guy who happened to be in the forest."

"...who else would be out there?" Twilight inquired, cocking an eyebrow. "I think everypony knows about the paths around the Everfree Forest, so who would just-"

"I don't know." Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Some caramel-colored Pegasus with a fire for his Cutie Mark. Never seen him in Ponyville before, so I would've assumed he came from Canterlot. But he certainly wasn't _dressed_ like any Canterlot pony I've seen."

"Well, there's only one thing to do!" Pinkie Pie declared, standing up on her hooves. "I've gotta go and get the stuff for the party! See you later, girls!" Immediately following that statement, she zipped away and disappeared from the area before anyone else could say anything on the matter.

"...and there she goes." Rarity said, sighing lightly but smiling at Pinkie's antics. "She probably doesn't know if he's here to stay..."

"Well..." Fluttershy decided to take the courage to speak up once more, straightening up again. "I think I'll go, too. Since we're all going to be hearing about him anyway, it's better to start early on, right?"

She stood up in order to take her own leave. However, the other four ponies, after sharing a look towards one another, decided to stand up as well. They all knew how Pinkie Pie worked, even at her most random intervals. If they wanted to attend the soon-to-be party, they would have to stop what they were doing and prepare themselves.

"...yeah. Considering Pinkie's just gonna be knockin' at all of our doors when everything's ready..." Applejack said matter-of-factly. "Ah think we should just clean up and go back to our homes."

"Agreed..." Twilight and Rarity said in agreement and in unison.

That being said, the four moved to clean up the mess they left behind.


	4. Chapter 3: Pleasure to Meet You  Part 1

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY...**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

Hey, boys and girls! Sorry for the absences between posts, I can get a little distracted when it comes to stuff like this. However, I'm back, and that's all that counts! Hopefully, the wait didn't bore you too much.

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><p>Everywhere Silas went, it was nothing more than a colorful sight.<p>

His eyes took in everything around him, and he couldn't help but feel mixed emotions. On the positive side, the atmosphere was much cheerier and up-beat than the neighborhood he had grown up in. Although he could only guess, it was safe to say that every resident was outside their doors. There was always talk, chatter, and laughter within every twist and turn. It was nothing like Texas, where you felt like you needed a gun pointed in every direction at very person. It made his heart relax, and he almost smiled out of elation. It already seemed like such a perfect place to him.

Yet... maybe it was _too_ perfect.

Everything to him seemed far too colorful and bright. It was as if a children's book had been given life and expanded out into the real world. It was a primal sense present within humans to understand that too much of something, even if it was a _good_ thing, would become worse as time progressed. The place he roamed around in might as well have been the exact example of a utopia. At the same time, It seemed like a place dominated by nothing _but_ happiness and tranquility. His eyes flashed with uneasiness as he continued to look around the area, catching stares from more than a few eyes.

Oh, that's right. How could he forget he wasn't the usual resident here?

Underneath the judging looks and analyzing eyes, he was tempted to just run away from it all. He never liked being put in the spot-light like this. Every time the gaze of someone else was on him, it always meant something bad. His parents, classmates, and his so-called friends taught him that through experience. He hung his head down a little, uneasiness and discomfort within his expression and body stance as he endured the looks. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see some of the strange ponies whisper to one another while keeping that painful gaze on his person.

Maybe it wasn't as perfect as he thought it was.

The solution that came to his mind was retaliation. He wanted to get angry and start screaming at them to stop looking at him in such a manner. His decaying mood was certainly pushing him towards the execution of the idea. But he knew that would only draw more attention despite how many he could potentially scare off. His helplessness to the situation was only picking at his resolve and his emotional stability. He could only hang his head down, the bangs of his black mane overshadowing his eyes as he continued to walk down the smooth dirt path, only stopping once he was in front of an empty park bench.

At least, he could be grateful that the bastard that was his employer was kind enough to leave him with the knowledge to operate this new body.

He slid onto the bench, tucking his front and hind legs under him in the traditional horse's sitting position. He turned his head to the side, his somewhat weary eyes looking outward. Now that he had become stationary, the majority of the prying eyes had turned away and looked toward their owners' respective activities. He let out a sigh, relief washing over him at the sign of disinterest. He closed his eyes, lowering his head so that his chin would be resting on the wood of the bench he was sitting on. It would've been humorous to note that the position he was in looked relevant to a sleeping dog.

His mind flashed back to the world he had been in prior to where he was. He could still remember Evelyn, a woman who was enthused with the world of rap and poetry. He could remember Beretta, the young Ozark-accented Texan who made a life by hunting. Throughout his life, they had been his only true friends that had stuck by him. Everyone else had turned traitor on him. Even his relatives turned a blind and resentful eye to the fact that he even existed. Unlike them all, they were a constant variable that never left him and the only link between him and happiness. Even after the cruel actions he had performed in Texas, they had never left his side. They stayed with him, even when they were all sentenced to death.

It occurred to him that Evelyn and Beretta might have not been granted the same miracle as he had.

What if the employer had ignored their own plight? He had said nothing about them in his mental interaction with Silas. Not even a hint was spared towards the former human concerning whether they were alive or dead. He probably would have been better off knowing their status than kept in the dark as he was. But because of the elusive and enigmatic nature of his "employer", he could assume that he was stuck with the information he was given for purposes of entertainment and amusement. It was probably laughing its head off, watching as the former criminal squirmed under the influence of the new environment. Despite the employer's last words to Silas, it was obvious that it held some form of dominion over him.

"Um... excuse me...?"

A soft, timid female voice brought him out of his morbid thoughts. His eyes widened instinctively, his eyebrows slanted down inwardly, and his head snapped up to look at the one who had addressed him.

He was greeted with the sight of what looked like a mare who let out an "Eep!" and slightly recoiled upon his gaze. Her coat was a bright and vibrant yellow; a trait that surprisingly stood out from the rest of the ponies. Her mane was curled somewhat and colored and somewhat eye-blinding pink. Her eyes were looking at him slight anxiety and hesitation. Her stance, as well as her reaction to his reaction, made it perfectly clear that she was at least a little intimidated to his presence.

"_Well... I suppose it's going to be sooner or later that one of them starts talking to me... here's to hoping I don't screw up my barely existing reputation..."_

"Y...yes...?" His voice was hesitant, his expression lightening as he straightened up a little. He didn't want to frighten her away right after he found someone that wanted to talk to him... even if that someone was a uniquely-colored pony. In order to look more inviting, he put on a weak smile and tried to make himself appear more relaxed than he actually was. This seemed to relieve the mare a little, and her stance relaxed... but not by much.

"I couldn't help but notice that...well..." She shifted her gaze away from him, pawing one of her front hooves at the ground. "You were new here, and you might be lost, so I was wondering if it was okay if I... showed you around for a little bit? That is, if you don't mind, of course..."

That immediately caught the stallion's attention, his red eyes flashing in surprise. He had only been here for only a short period of time. But already, someone was approaching him and asking for permission to take him for a tour? It was something that no one in his neighborhood would've thought of doing if he had been a lost soul there. But here, it already seemed as if the town wanted to warm up to him... even if their greetings did come in the form of only one person... or pony, in this case.

"Well..." He looked slightly apprehensive, frowning a little. "I don't want to waste your time..." Despite this, he allowed himself to stand up on all four of his hooves and leap down to ground level. "I mean, you probably are a busy person, and I don't want to interfere with anything just because I'm a little bit clueless on how this town works and all..."

"Oh, no, it's no problem!" The mare, despite being clearly hesitant, took on a more insistent tone. "With what's going on in Ponyville, I was probably going to meet you anyway..." However, she had to turn her face away again as he approached her, despite seeing the slightly hesitant and nervous expression he held on his own face. He chuckled a little at her words.

"The town's that small, huh?" He said lightly, putting on a weak smile. "In that case, I wouldn't mind..."

With a small smile of her own, the mare turned on her heels and began to walk slowly in what seemed like a random direction to him. As he followed her, he couldn't help but notice that the stares that had diverted away from him earlier had once again directed themselves towards his person. Now that he was in the company of someone else, he felt easier. But it didn't stop the look of deadpan annoyance from crossing his face as he heard whispers, and even the occasional wolf-whistle. Gossip was something he could never escape, even if it was in good nature.

"I'm Fluttershy, by the way..."

Once again, he snapped out of his thoughts and jerked his head to see the mare looking at him with a kind expression. His ears twitched at the name that he heard. Now, he had heard of some pretty unusual names, some of which he had seen while browsing the likes of _TVTropes_ on the Internet. Of course, most of them came from TV shows and cartoons. The more that he thought about it, the more the name "Fluttershy" seemed familiar to him...

Then it occurred to him that she was waiting for him to say his name in return.

"Oh, um..." Once again, he mentally scrambled for the right words to say and cursed himself for being caught off-guard again. "Right, well... my name's Silas." As he spoke, he kept up his nervous smile and tried to keep a casual, pleasant tone to the conversation. "It's... really nice to meet you, miss Fluttershy."

"I do hope that leg of yours will get better..." Fluttershy said, once again looking over her shoulder as she walked. "Manticores aren't usually so violent and aggressive towards ponies, so I can't imagine why that one would chase you as far as it did..."

Silas's smile faded away instantly, the image of the manticore hitting his mindset once again. A somewhat stricken look fell on his face as his thoughts drifted back to him nearly being killed by the hybrid creature, and he lowered his head out of instinct and reflex. "...yeah... it wasn't fun..." He muttered, shivering a little at the memory. "Just getting here and already I'm nearly killed by some sort of random wildlife creature." He was almost tempted to add a potential Pokemon joke, but decided against it. From where he stood, they might have not even _heard_ of Pokemon before...

"But..." He raised his head a little as they stopped in front of one of the buildings, cocking an eyebrow at the mare who stood opposite from him. "How did you know I was attacked? I know that the nurse said I was brought in by someone named Rainbow Dash, but she never said anything about anyone named Fluttershy."

"That's because Rainbow Dash was the one that brought you to the hospital..." Fluttershy explained. "I had to go back home because I had gotten too wet when I pulled you out from the lake..."

"_You_ dived in to pull me out...?" If anything, Silas was showing praise for the young mare from the way he spoke. The nervousness had faded away from the wide grin he had on his face. "Well, I have to say, then... you don't look like much of a swimmer or someone who's been participating in athletics too long, so to hear you say that... well, let's just say the people back home would say it's a pretty tall tale."

A slight blush came across Fluttershy's face, and she turned her face away once again in a meek, yet humble manner. "Um... thank you, mister York-"

"Please." The smile had faded away for Silas, and he looked a bit hesitant himself as he spoke. "Just... call me Silas."

"Well, OK... if you say so..."

With that being said, Fluttershy drew her eyes towards the first structure they were in front of – a nonverbal instruction for Silas to do the same. They both found themselves standing in front of an outdoor opening arc. What lie beyond it was a pathway that led to a mix of a farm and a house. A rural setting surrounded it, complete with acres of plant crops and a domesticated forest in the background. A uniquely shaped orange house was situated a while behind it. When Silas's eyes fell on the strange buildings, he couldn't help but gawk at the sight.

"This..." Fluttershy said, lifting up a hoof to point towards the literal barn house. "Is Sweet Apple Acres. They're responsible for making and selling apple-related products to Ponyville."

Silas whistled, giving an acknowledging nod. "So this is just some big apple orchard business." He summarized. "The owners must have a lot of money if they can afford to live in such an out-of-world building." He looked over at Fluttershy, taken slightly aback when she started to walk through the arc. "Wait, what are you-"

"Don't worry..." The mare encouraged, stopping and looking at him with a smile. "This is also the resident of one of my closest friends. She won't bite, honest..." She turned around and continued to walk in a manner that clearly said she knew where she was going. So the stallion didn't hesitate to follow her path directly.

As he walked, he couldn't help but have thoughts about where his position was at the moment. His eyes unconsciously drifted towards the mare in front of him - or more specifically, her posterior – and locked themselves in place. He could not help but notice the telltale curves and the rhythm her hind legs were moving in. Even though it wasn't eye-candy material he had always ended up seeing in magazines or some commercials, the shape and somewhat honest nature of it made his heart beat a little faster. For a brief moment and out of instinct, his tongue traced surface of his lips.

Then he realized what he was doing.

"_Am I seriously getting dirty thoughts looking at the ass of a HORSE? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, SILAS?"_

His expression immediately shifted from calm and nervous to shocked and horrified, one of his eyes twitching for effect. He shut his eyes, violently shaking his head in what seemed like a comical and humorous manner. _"This is a talking HORSE I'm looking at and a shy one at that, not some flaunting female who likes to show her stuff! I mean, yeah, I might not have been popular with the ladies, but it doesn't mean I'm going to start falling for the likes of horses any time soon-"_

Because he wasn't looking where he was going, he ended up a bit closer to Fluttershy than he would've liked and remained unaware of it...

Until she stopped, her tail subconsciously smacking him in the face.

"Gah~!" He yelped, instinctively jerking back out of surprise. The hairs of her tail had stuck themselves in his nose due to his carelessness and her abrupt stop. He twitched his nose and snorted, but it didn't keep him from going into a sneezing and coughing fit. Inwardly, he was cursing himself for getting caught up in his thoughts and allowing such a thing to happen. Even as he was shaking his head from side to side in an attempt to knock it off, he could guess that Fluttershy was regarding him with embarrassment and exasperation at his antics.

Sure enough, when he came out of his fit with a deadpan expression of annoyance, he found himself staring into the eyes of what he thought was a slightly disgusted Fluttershy... but the amused and green eyes of another pony that had approached the two. Right off the bat, the lone stallion could tell that it was a mare due to the prominent eyelashes. She had an orange-brown coat and a blonde mane with a tail to match, a Stetson hat resting on top of her head. Despite her body visually being of the same build as Fluttershy, there were slight hints that she had a more athletic figure – something that didn't well with the pattern he had just disposed of a few seconds before. However, he forced his thoughts away and kept up his cynical expression.

Thankfully, his silence didn't result in any awkward silence between them. The mare spoke up, chuckling as she did so. "You okay there, partner?" She asked respectfully, an Ozark-accented tone in her voice.

"_Just like Beretta..."_

The nostalgia washed over Silas right away upon hearing her Southern accent, lightening up his somewhat acerbic mood enough for him to maintain a calm, cool, and collected tone. But it didn't keep the sarcasm out. "Certainly..." He drawled. "Don't mind me, I was just making a complete and total ass of myself in front of two females who're probably thinking about the very fact that I just made an ass of myself."

"Oh, don't talk like that!" The mare scolded, smiling and reaching over to give him a light punch to his chest with one of her hooves. "I'm not gonna think any less of you just because you had yourself a sneezing fit." She crossed one of her front legs in front of the other in an idle and casual motion, giving an encouraging smile and a wink of her eye. "I'm Applejack, by the way. Always nice seeing a new face in town."

Silas merely grunted, giving an acknowledging nod. "I'm Silas York." He said automatically, extending one of his front hooves in the hopes of a handshake. Thankfully, he had allowed himself to turn his head to the sides when he started sneezing, so his appendages were unaffected. "It's a pleasure to meet yAYAYAY?" Once again, he was caught off guard when Applejack took his hand in both hooves and not only shook _it_, but his entire _body_ as well. He might as well have been caught in an earthquake!

"Oh, _now_ I remember!" The Stetson-sporting pony exclaimed as she continued to literally rattle him with the hoofshake, earning a slight giggle from the observing Fluttershy. "You were the pony Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were talking about earlier, the one who got jumped by that manticore!"

"Y-y-yeah t-t-that's m-m-me all r-r-right!" Silas stammered, nearly falling over when Applejack finally let him go. His body was wagging back and forth, his eyes spinning around in a dizzy manner. "Good...god, woman, do you greet _every_ stranger like that?" He could barely keep himself from falling on his side, and his mind was slow to recompose itself from the ordeal.

"Only the ones who want a hoofshake." Applejack said readily, her grin a mile wide and a laughing tone in her voice.

"Don't mind us..." Fluttershy caught the other mare's attention and spoke up, as the poor stallion was still attempting to regain his mental balance. "I'm just giving Silas a tour of Ponyville, and I'm sure you're busy and all..."

"Yeah..." Walking over to stand beside Silas, Applejack wrapped a foreleg around his shoulders in a friendly manner. "I'd love to have you and your friend over for a visit, but I've got things to go and places to go myself. So you take care."

"Um...thanks...you, too?" Silas regarded her with a hesitant and unsure smile as Applejack took her foreleg from his shoulders and walked off, giving a wave over her shoulder as she did so. Normally, no one would've given him such a warm and invitational greeting. He had only said his name, and already Applejack had made it feel like she had known him ever since his birth! Was he being too open-hearted? Was she being too trusting? The feeling was too nice to let go, and he didn't want to believe it was all a trick. Everything was just too... good...

Yet, he couldn't help but wonder. What if it was...?

"Excuse me..." Fluttershy's gentle voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see her walk past him. "Just making sure you were ready..." She said quietly, giving him a shy, but encouraging smile.

"Huh? Yeah, all right..." He took a deep breath and exhaled, turning himself around to follow right after the mare. He would have to think about it later. Now, the atmosphere was too positive and the mood too pleasant for him to divulge in paranoia. He would find out in the end whether or not he belonged in this new world, strange and surreal as it was. For the moment, he could forget his troubles and rest easy in the aura of the peaceful town.

"_I hope I won't be disappointed..."_ He thought to himself, a weak smile on his face as he walked beside his tour guide.


	5. Chapter 4: Pleasure to Meet You Part 2

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**Author's Notes:** Hello again, all of you! I'd like to take this time to say thanks to the ones that had the patience to endure the wait between chapters and tolerate my absence. I'm trying my best to keep this story up, considering I've garnered interest which will hopefully increase in the future.

* * *

><p>"She seems like... quite an eccentric character..."<p>

It was the first thing that escaped Silas's mouth when he and Fluttershy made their way through the arc and down another path. Because of Applejack's behavior towards him, his paranoia and anxiety was starting to fade. Despite his foreign presence, it was obvious that he was welcomed by at least some of the populace. It was a far cry, at best, but the stallion hoped that this wouldn't be the last he would see of either Applejack or Fluttershy. It would've been a shame to disregard his memories of them in such a short time.

"That's how she acts toward everyone, really." Fluttershy answered, looking over to her side to see him trotting along beside her. "Please don't take it too personally... I mean, if it offends you, I could always ask her to be less-"

"No, no, it's no big deal." The stallion cut her off, his tone doing its best to be reassuring. "From where I'm from, people usually aren't so open towards strangers."

"Well, I do hope that changes during your stay here..." The mare said, the encouraging smile returning to her own face. Her eyes were squinted shut in a moderate upside-down U shape. "Most of the ponies here are just as welcoming if you give them a chance, especially the ones that we'll be seeing..."

She allowed herself to stop abruptly, directing her face to the sky and re-opening her eyes. She stepped away from Silas with just enough distance to be considered out of his personal range. This prompted Silas to stop as well, cocking a slight eyebrow and raising one of his front legs slightly in inquiry. However, the questioning expression fell from his face when he saw wings sprout out from her sides with an audible flapping sound. His eyes widened, and his mouth gaped open.

"_Wait a minute. She had wings? How could I have not seen that?"_

Fortunately, Fluttershy didn't see his reaction. Her body bent low to the ground for a brief second before she pushed herself into the air. Her movements abruptly snapped him out of his shock, and his expression changed to one of slight surprise. He reached out with one hoof. "Hold on a second, where are you going?" He asked immediately, worried that he would be left on his own.

Fluttershy stopped in mid-air, turning herself to face him in a confused manner. But upon realizing his status as a stranger to the world around him, she cringed at her mistake. Her body language "Um...one of my friends has a home in Cloudsdale, and we need to fly to get there." The tone in her voice made Silas quirk his eyebrow again, and from the look on his face, it was clear that he thought she was being stupid.

"Well, what do you expect _me_ to do about that?" He said, almost a bit snidely. He looked towards his own sides in a motion to demonstrate. "Unlike you, I don't exactly have wings-"

He had to stop himself upon closer inspection.

A set of wings on each side of him were pressed against his body in a closed position, ready to be opened up at a moment's notice. They were feathered, of course. But unlike the mare Pegasus, each individual feather had a pointed edge to it – something that could be considered a unique feature. His eyes were widened once again in surprise as he looked over each wing. Somehow, they too had escaped his notice. Maybe he had forgotten when he was too busy focusing on the earlier manticore incident, or maybe he just never paid attention to them.

Either way, it was clear to him why Fluttershy was trying desperately not to sound as if she was judging him as stupid.

He turned his eyes towards the pink-maned mare, who was studying him with a perplexed expression. A sheepish, embarrassed chuckle escaped his mouth. "Right... guess I'm not doing well on my A-Game today..." He said nervously, giving a halfhearted smile. "Please, lead the way. I'm right behind you."

"Okay..."

After regarding him curiously for a moment more, Fluttershy turned around and began to fly into the sky in a slow, deliberate manner. At this point in time, Silas silently thanked his employer for giving him the knowledge of how to use his wings in flight; it would've been even more embarrassing if he didn't know. Fluttershy probably thought he was a moron already with how he was acting, and he didn't need more excuses to shatter his barely crafted image.

He took in a breath and held it for a brief moment, putting his mental focus onto his wings. Naturally, they sprouted upwards and to an attentive manner. After flapping them a few times, he boosted himself off the ground with a shaky exhale, letting his body go somewhat limp as he lifted into the air. It was a rather strange feeling, being off the ground. It brought about a sense of apprehension as he went higher and higher, knowing that every foot above the earth was an increase in the chance of death if he happened to fall. Yet, he was slightly trembling with elation, his grin threatening to split his face in two. To be above everything and everyone, floating with the clouds with no regard for who you were... it was incredible! He shivered a little, and a short laugh escaped his lips.

He was so glad to be a Pegasus.

Directing his attention to his guide, he increased his speed and caught up with the slow-moving Fluttershy easily, maintaining a steady pace with her as they ascended to bird's level. As he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, he noticed that she was still giving him a somewhat curious look. A frown crossed his face, and he couldn't help but cock an eyebrow once more. "What?"

"Oh, um..." His question made Fluttershy look away, her face flushing slightly. "I'm sorry... it's just that you seem to enjoy yourself when you're flying. Do you do it often?" Her tone, although to a mild extent, had regressed to the shy quality she had initially taken with him. It reminded him that although she was comfortable showing him around, it simply wasn't enough to make her relax completely in his presence. This was understandable.

"Well..." He rolled his gaze away, looking thoughtful. "Honestly, I don't do it much. I prefer sticking to the ground for natural business, but in the times that I do fly, it's absolutely wonderful." A beaming smile returned to his face once again, and he squinted his eyes shut in an upside-down U shape. "Being so high without a care in the world? Who could ask for more?" It was a half-truth. But it was the closest he could get without revealing who he really was. After all, she would never believe his real story...

His words and face caused Fluttershy to smile, her blush increasing in color a bit more. When he opened his eyes and stole a glance at her, he couldn't help but note how adorable she looked with it. Now, there were a few girls back in his world who could pull off such a look. However, _she_ seemed to do it without even noticing! It gave off a sense of true innocence and peace – something that made his heart flutter briefly as he took it in. Of course, this was still a horse he was looking at. But even that fact didn't deter his thoughts from adoring her cuteness.

He looked away, taking in a deep breath and turned his eyes forward...

...just in time to see a projectile coming towards him at very high speeds.

He nearly fell out of his flight when he was struck head-on by the force, yelling out in protest as he was knocked back. He barely managed to right himself and keep himself in the air, wings flapping furiously in an instinctive attempt to stay upright. He clutched his face with both of his forehooves, groaning in pain and disorientation. "Agh...!" He snapped his gaze up, giving a teary glare at the one who had recklessly collided into him. "What the hell-!"

"OW! Watch where you're going, you-"

It was here that both of the victims' dialogue stopped.

Forgetting Fluttershy for a moment, he feasted widened eyes on yet another Pegasus, who was giving him the same shocked expression as he was giving her. Although he found himself staring directly into rose-colored eyes, his peripheral vision caught the rest of her body. Her coat was a light blue, something that fitted the theme of the near-clear skies. Her mane and tail, however, was decked in all colors of the spectrum. On her flank was a rainbow-colored lightning bolt with a cloud on top – her very own tattoo.

"You...!" He exclaimed, finally bringing himself to speak. "You were the one that the nurse was talking about! Rainbow Dash!"

This wiped the shock off of the other Pegasus's face, and she quickly fell back to a prideful pose. "Eeyup! The one and only!" She stated, motioning to herself in a boasting manner. However, she was quick to fly up to him (much to his surprise) and poke a hoof in his chest. "You're lucky that me and Fluttershy found you, otherwise you'd be manticore lunch right now. Though, I've got to ask..." She floated away a little, her eyes peering with a moderately suspicious look. "What was a Pegasus like you doing in the middle of the Everfree forest in the _first_ place?"

"_Oh, crap."_

It was only a few seconds into the conversation and already he had been hit with the whammy of that first question. His face contorted into a nervous smile, and he found himself averting his gaze away from Rainbow Dash's. His eyes started to shift, and he placed his forehooves together. "Well... you see..." He began, his voice not making any effort to hide his emotions. "I..." His anxiety only increased when Rainbow Dash's eyes squinted naturally into slits, and his smile was shot from his face right away. _"Oh, god, why didn't I think of this earlier? What do I do, what do I do, what do I-"_

"Rainbow Dash?"

Thankfully, he didn't need to say anything.

Sensing his increasing distress, Fluttershy moved to the two and fixed her gaze on her friend, who pulled away from the one-sided staring contest in order to look over at her. "Um... don't take this the wrong way, but... he is someone new to Ponyville and might not be too comfortable talking about himself." Although she too was nervous to speak the words, she easily retained her composure and even emphasized her words with an encouraging smile, trying to keep her friend from interrogating the poor stallion right then and there.

"Well..." The rainbow-maned mare looked back at Silas with a questioning eyebrow, trying to decide on what to do. She was greeted with Silas trying to put on an innocent grin of his own. A bit of humor could be felt within the tension when he smiled, as an audible "squee" sound could be heard from him. However, if either of the two mares picked up on it, they certainly weren't showing it.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow Dash relented. "All right..." She muttered, though she seemed rather reluctant to have to back off for the time being. "If you say so..." Mentally, Silas breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Fluttershy for the save. Otherwise, he would've had some serious explaining to do.

"Great!" Fluttershy's nervousness disappeared completely, and her smile was a bit more enthusiastic. "We were heading to Cloudsdale in order to meet you, but now that you're here, we can go get Rarity." As she spoke, she passed a glance over towards the relaxed Silas, who was staring at the two of them with a slightly confused expression.

"Right!" His confusion changed to suspicion when Rainbow Dash passed a glance over towards his direction, then placed an arm around Fluttershy's neck and turned her as well as herself away from him. His lower eyelid squinted, a skeptical frown on his face. People talking behind his back was a pet peeve for him, but he didn't want to be rude about it. If they wanted to whisper right in front of him, it probably was only a minor issue or not even a problem at all. He remained silent, waiting for them to finish up.

Thankfully, it only took several seconds before both of them pulled out of their little huddle and faced him again. "First to Rarity's, then to Twilight's!" She declared, turning her head away from the two and pumped her wings, flying away from them and back down to the town below them. "C'mon!"

Fortunately, the speed she was going at was reasonable, and the two managed to catch up to her easily. However, they were moving at a much faster pace with the speedster in the lead. Silas couldn't help but note his earlier collision with her and the fact that she was able to close the distance between the both of them in a matter of seconds. She might as well have been teleporting with that speed of hers! Even now, she seemed to fly with a natural ease while he and the pink-maned mare had to push themselves a bit harder in order to keep up.

"So, newbie..." Rainbow Dash's voice caught his attention, and he shifted his gaze towards the mare who was speaking to him. She had a slight grin on her face, her eyebrows slanted downward. "As you already know, my name's Rainbow Dash. What's yours?"

"Silas..." He answered casually and readily, making sure to sound honest. The last thing he wanted to do was give off any more negative vibes than he potentially created. "Silas York."

"All righty, then, Silas..." Rainbow Dash's grin grew even wider, and she finally allowed herself to slow down. She landed gently on all fours, turning to look at her companions who were setting down right beside her. "I'm not going to pressure you or anything about where you're from or any of that, but... if you were visiting Ponyville, you sure took the wrong route!"

It was a subtle method of laughing at Silas for his misfortune – and he was quick to take the hint.

He narrowed his eyes, a slight scowl forming on his face as he felt a sting of anger shoot through him. It made it all the more frustrating not to tell her how he had really gotten there just to spite her. But he was also aware of how foolish such a choice would be. A decision made out of blind fury would not benefit him. But he needed some way to defend himself from the "attack" on his person. So he would have to settle for another way to counter her challenge.

When the scowl formed on his face, Fluttershy instantly grew nervous. One of her front legs raised up in nervousness, and she could feel the initiation of a fight starting. Silas's expression was enough to convey that he was considering retaliation of a violent kind, and the teasingly smug grin on Rainbow Dash's face when she looked over at him wasn't helping matters. She stepped forward towards the two, her quiet voice attempting to penetrate the tension. "Please wait-"

Silas unintentionally cut her off with his own retort. "Well..." He began, keeping the scowl on his face and a tauntingly casual tone in his words. "Maybe I _wanted_ to get eaten by some creature in that forest instead of being saved by a pony who might as well be a living, breathing gay pride flag. Ever think of that, miss _Rainbow Dash_?"

That was enough for the smirk to fall off of Rainbow Dash's face and plant itself on Silas's.

"WHAT?" She had gotten up in his face before he could even move a muscle, a scowl on her own countenance and an indignant glare in her eyes. This only widened his grin despite the fact that she looked ready to beat the crap out of him for saying such a thing. He stood his ground, even as her face pushed against his in an attempt to physically intimidate him. "Why, you-!"

"Oh, come on..." Feeling the need to antagonize the mare even more, Silas continued to push the nail in deeper. "Haven't you looked in a mirror lately? That color scheme, although it does seem to suit your person, just makes you look like a dyke. Are you sure you're not a lesbian?" He reared back, however, when the target of his jeering started to flare and flap her wings in a furious manner.

"Oooh, that does it!" Rainbow Dash fumed, her body tensing and lowering itself to the ground in a position to pounce him. "Put 'em up, pal! Those are fightin' words!"

"_Oh, hell. She... doesn't seem to be kidding, does she?"_

Now, it relaxed Silas to know that he could handle himself in the body he was given. However, it occurred to him that there were still people who could outmatch him in physical performance. So far, Rainbow Dash had proved that she had done so in terms of speed despite her sight build. Suddenly, his idea of teasing the girl seemed to become less funny and more like a suicidal death-charge. His smug expression faded into a shocked one, his ears flopping down.

"W-wait a minute, come on, now!" He began to stammer out a protest, slowly backing away from the angry mare and grinning in a frantic manner. "I was just busting your ovaries, that's all! There's no need to get violent! I mean, I _just_ got out of the _hospital_! You just can't go and send me back in!"

"Sorry, you should've thought of that _before_ saying what you said!" Rainbow Dash declared, throwing herself at her target in a straight charge. A squeak escaped Silas's lips, and he flopped himself down on his haunches while shutting his eyes. He could hear the gasp coming from Fluttershy at her friend's actions, but it was far from his mind at the moment. At the very least, he knew that being hit in the face with a hoof would hurt and cause some serious injury. So it was safe to assume that whatever she did, it was going to be extremely painful. He could only hope it would be quick...

"What's all this noise about? Rainbow Dash, what are you doing _now_?"

A new female voice caused Silas's eyes to snap open once more, and he saw that Rainbow Dash had froze in her tracks. They both looked with widened eyes at the newcomer approaching them with a slow and deliberate gait. She was a pony with a white coat and a purple mane-tail combination fixed in a wavy and rather stylish fashion. As she approached, she feasted somewhat annoyed eyes particularly towards Rainbow Dash and ignored Silas for the moment. On the sidelines, Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief for her timely interference.

The rainbow-maned pony huffed, turning her head away in a sulking motion. "He started it..." She grumbled, sticking her tongue out immaturely. However, it was clear that it was only out of humor. "I was only finishing up."

"Either way, you should know better, picking fights with those who just recovered from serious injury!" As soon as she finished that scolding statement, she turned towards the stallion and gave a sympathetic look. "I sincerely apologize for the trouble that my friend caused you. Some ponies just don't know when and how to behave themselves..."

As she spoke to him, Silas took in everything he could about her with just his eyes alone. Like Applejack, this pony had a dialect of her own – a mid-Atlantic dialect executed with an elegant flair. She carried herself in a lady-like manner – a trait that could be contrasted to her brash, rainbow-maned companion. It almost intimidated him to be in her presence, and he had to refrain from averting his gaze away from hers. The most prominent characteristic was the horn sticking out from her forehead.

"My name is Rarity." Her introduction caught his direct attention once again and earned her a casual expression of interest.

"I'm Silas." He responded automatically, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Your friends came here to fetch you before heading over to a Twilight Sparkle's place." He put on an enthusiastic smile. "Guess I'm just along for the ride..."

As the two spoke, Rainbow Dash took the time to walk away from them and towards Fluttershy, who had been lingering in the background and looking on. "Hey, Fluttershy..." She started, glancing over with a slightly annoyed and suspicious look at the unaware Silas. "He didn't happen to say anything... you know... bad towards you, did he?"

Hearing the defensive tone in her voice, Fluttershy was quick to appease her. "Oh, no, of course not! He's been rather nice for the most part. Why do you ask?"

"Well..." Rainbow Dash turned her look completely towards Silas as he continued to speak to and occasionally laugh with the fashion designer/seamstress. Her eyes were moderately squinted, and a skeptical frown had formed on her face. "I don't know, something just seems... _off_ about him. You saw how he froze up when I asked him what was he doing in the Everfree Forest. And look at his Cutie Mark!"

Now that Fluttershy looked at it, there was something odd about him having a blazing fire for a Cutie Mark. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind was him burning things. A look of uneasiness crossed her face at the realization, her ears flopping briefly and her body leaning back ever so slightly. "Well... we _were_ also nervous about Zecora when _she_ first came to town. Are you sure it's not the same here?" She asked her friend, though her tone was showing clear hesitation.

"I guess so, but..." Rainbow Dash's frown became more unnerved, and she switched her look over to Fluttershy. "I don't know-"

"Well, are we going to just stand here?"

Their conversation was cut off and their attention was drawn away from each other by Rarity's voice. They looked up to see the fashion pony approach them with Silas following closely behind. "Twilight's going to be impatient if we make her wait for too long! Besides, we wouldn't want to keep our guest standing around in one spot all this time, would we?" Discreetly, she passed a wink to her two female friends – a nonverbal motion in which Silas could raise an eyebrow at.

"Oh! Right..." Fluttershy blushed a little at the remark, just remembering their friend. "Sorry, Rarity." She turned around so that her flanks were facing Silas and Rarity – an action that made the stallion blush slightly, as well. It quickly faded away from his face the moment Fluttershy turned back to look at them. "Please follow me, Silas..."

"_Even the shy ones have to be such... WOMEN! UGH!"_

Giving a brief sigh, Silas moved forward to follow right behind Fluttershy again, trying not to look directly at her walking form. However, as he averted his gaze, he could see a hint of suspicion on Rainbow Dash's face as she walked by his side while Rarity took his right. He knew that he had not given off good first impressions when it came to the brash pony, so it was only natural that she would be suspicious of him. Now, he would have to watch himself. If he let any more mistakes slip out, she would certainly have his head.

"So, miss Dash..." He began, putting on an enthusiastic smile as he looked over at her. "You never did deny whether or not you were a dy-"

_WHAM!_

"OW!"


	6. Chapter 5: Pleasure to Meet You Part 3

**Introduce A Little Anarchy**

**A/N:** And here's the next chapter.

A note: another good FIM story would be "Trip Of A Lifetime" written by Tailslover13. If you're getting sick of the common, suckish HiE story and you don't want this to be the only one, go check it out. It takes a step away from the traditional approach from how the genre usually plays out, and I myself am an avid reviewer of it. Seriously, go and check it out once you get a chance.

With that out of the way, I do hope you enjoy this next chapter, with Deviants and FF writers alike! (And yes, that means you too, FIM-peeps.)

* * *

><p>"Now that it's mentioned... Rainbow Dash's never been one to socialize with stallions... at least, not in our direct view..."<p>

"Wait a minute, _Rarity_? Are you _seriously_ encouraging him?"

"See? Tomboyish attitude, rainbow colors, and a tendency to hang out with females more than males? You've just cornered yourself, miss Dash. Just come out of the closet so we can get on with our lives."

"Do you want to get hit again? I am _not_-!"

"Um... for the record, I don't really mind what your preferences are. I mean, whether or not you prefer mares over stallions is up to you, really-"

"Oh, no! For the love of Celestia, _no_! Not you too, Fluttershy!"

Despite the earlier blow he had received as a result of him provoking the rainbow-maned mare, Silas put on a smirk as he listened to the results of his "accusations".Truthfully, he could care less about what way she actually swung. He was only poking fun at Rainbow Dash for his own amusement. It was fun watching her squirm and defend herself in a flustered, angry manner. But what was making it even better was Rarity and Fluttershy agreeing with him. Of course, considering that they were her friends, they were probably just going along with him just to tease her.

"Look, the color of my mane does not indicate on which way I swing, okay?" Rainbow Dash said defensively, glaring at the smug stallion as she continued to walk beside him.

"Of course, dear..." Rarity chuckled. "We were just teasing you, that's all."

"Though we really won't judge you if you are..." Fluttershy piped up. However, an annoyed stare from Rainbow Dash made her ears flop down and her face sport a sheepish look. "Not saying that you are, of course."

"Don't worry, I'll find out in due time." Silas sniffed, ignoring the annoyed growl Rainbow Dash threw in his direction. "In the meantime, I'll focus on the here and now. Where are we going again?"

Rarity quirked an eyebrow at him. "We just said it a few minutes ago! We're heading to Twilight's place!" She said, making Silas's eyes snap towards her directly in surprise.

"Oh, you _did_?" Remembering that they had indeed said so a few minutes ago, Silas blushed slightly and lowered his head a little out of sheepishness. "Sorry..." However, the sheepishness changed to annoyance when he saw a grin cross Rainbow Dash's face – a clear indication that she had access to a revenge shot for his earlier jeers.

"Looks like someone's more ditzier than he looks..." She remarked teasingly, earning her a twitching stare from Silas.

"Hey!" He exclaimed indignantly. "I am _not_ ditzy! I'm just having lapses today. It's just an off day for me." His head was still lowered, but this time the feeling was mild aggravation instead of embarrassment.

"Oh, you might not have to worry about that after this..."

After she said that, Fluttershy brought herself to a stop, causing all of the others to halt themselves as well. Silas found himself staring at a large tree with a bizarre visage. Although it held the natural attributes of a regular tree, it also had balconies and windows on various sides as well as a door for entry. From the look of the sign with a book on it, he could deduce that the structure served as the public library.

The unique design earned a whistle from Silas. "Wow." He said in compliment. "Nice place she has here. Must have a lot of money if she can afford a library and home all-in-one." With a smile of anticipation, he took the initiative and made his way past the three mares. "Since we're all going to the same place, I'll just save you all a few seconds of time and let myself in." He walked up to the door, reaching over with one of his forehooves to push it open. However, he missed the winks that the three females were giving each other behind his back.

So he wasn't going to anticipate what was going to happen next.

When he pushed open the door and stepped inside, he found himself walking straight into darkness. He quirked an eyebrow and frowned, unconsciously stepping in until he was fully inside. "You sure anyone's even _in_ here...?" He questioned, trying to peer into the black space in an attempt to get a better view. However, his efforts were in vain; the only thing he could see was the light below him coming from the outside. "Maybe the owner's just away for a little-"

He was answered by the sound of the door slamming behind him – and his world was nothing but complete darkness.

In the seconds that he spent within that darkness, his mood shifted from relaxed to rigid in less than a second. His heart had increased its tempo within one second, beating rapidly and threatening to burst out of its ribcage. His frozen body had begun to tremble slightly, and his lips began to quiver slightly. His eyes began to dart around in the darkness, desperately trying to penetrate the black void that he was surrounded in. But his body seemed to be swallowed by the void of nothingness. It was as if he had stepped into the blackest part of the universe.

The fact that there had been people around him was slipping away from his mind very quickly, and his paranoia began to over-sweep him. He always had a fear of being alone and in the dark. People could ambush and kill you in seclusion, where they could see and you could not. You had no way of fighting back, and there wasn't anything or any friend you could run to for help. All you could do was stand there and wait until they made the first – and usually fatal – move.

"All right, girls..." He said weakly, his voice shaking lightly as he struggled to keep control of his growing fear. "This isn't funny, I-"

_CLICK!_

"_**SURPRISE!"**_

When the light was suddenly snapped on, he was hit with the sight and shout of several ponies, all of them with cheery smiles on their beaming faces. In his timid state, it was too much for him to handle. His vision spun out of control, and his body swayed from side to side for a brief moment in an attempt to keep himself from falling. But it was no use. He collapsed onto his side, his mind shutting itself into darkness.

* * *

><p>"...do you think we surprised him a teeny-tiny bit too much?"<p>

"Wow. Even _you_ didn't faint for _your _surprise, Twilight."

"I hope we didn't give him a _heart_ attack or something! He doesn't look too good..."

The respective voices of Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity brought him out from his unconscious state. As his mind stirred from the blackness it had sent itself to, he could hear several other voices talking with one another in a festive and jovial manner, unaware or uncaring of the situation at hand. He let out an agonized groan, slowly opening his eyes to meet six faces. He could recognize four of them right off the bat – the three ponies who had spoken plus Applejack. However, the additional two faces were of those he didn't recognize. One was that of a unicorn, whose coat, mane, and just about everything else about her visually was purple. The other face didn't help her cause, as it belonged to a green-eyed dragon who was the same color as her.

He didn't have much time to dwell on the newcomers' appearance.

"Hi!"

The moment he completely regained control of his senses, he was staring into the cheery face of a pink pony. Surprised curiosity overtook him, and he rolled over to face the one who had addressed him in such a manner. She had a curly, poofy mane as well as a tail that matched her overall pink appearance. He could barely make it out, but he could see a total of three balloons on each flank. It was like staring into a giant piece of bubble gum with an actual shape.

For all he knew, she probably wasn't a pony as much as she was some living piece of candy.

Her next barrage of sentences didn't help that fact.

"I'm Pinkie Pie, and these," She motioned with a hoof to the six, who were staring with various expressions of amusement at the two. "Are my friends Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike! Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy told us about when you got chased by that mean old manticore and how you got hurt and had to go to the hospital, and that as well as you being new around here made me think that the experience shook you up and you had no one to help you with it, and that made me so sad and worried, so we all got together to throw this big party for you with everypony that could come, and now-"

That was all Silas could take while being silent.

As he stood up, he promptly shoved a hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth, a mixture of concern and annoyance on his face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!" He exclaimed, quickly pulling his hoof away and earning an innocently curious look from her. "Damn, woman, did you even _breathe_ when you were talking? Is there some sort of machine gun lodged in your voice box? You were seriously making me think you were going to literally talk yourself to death!"

"Oh, don't be silly!" The smile returned to Pinkie Pie's face, and she resumed beaming at the stallion. "This is how I _always_ talk! Sometimes I speak long and sometimes I speak short, but it's all the same! But enough about me..." She leaned in a little towards her, making his head inch back in slight surprise. "What about you? What's your name?"

"_Oh, that's right. I never did say my name to her, did I?"_

"Um..." Although his gaze and hesitant voice was directed towards Pinkie Pie, he noticed the purple pony was approaching them with the dragon sitting on her back. "I'm Silas."

"Don't mind her too much..." The purple pony assured him with her own light and yet mild-mannered tone, giving him a casual smile. "Pinkie can be quite... enthusiastic when it comes to new faces in Ponyville." She raised a hoof up in a handshake, prompting Silas to turn to face her. The pink pony, apparently done with her own piece of introduction, quickly bounced away from them and towards her friends. "I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"And I'm Spike!" The small dragon piped up, giving a grin off his own and tilting into view. "Pleased to meet you!"

"Likewise..." Silas muttered, shaking the mare's hoof and silently thanking fate for her not having the same rattling hoof-shake as Applejack had. "I just hope that I'm not being too much of an inconvenience. This is your home, and I seemed to be the guest of honor today-"

"Guest of _honor_?" Spike's grin immediately turned into a frown at the words. He huffed, crossing his arms and turned his head away. "Don't flatter yourself. Sure, Pinkie Pie and the others may have started this to greet you, but we all came here to celebrate."

"Spike!" Twilight spun her head around, not catching the grin and soft chuckles of amusement that Silas emitted as she cast a look of annoyance to her assistant.

"What? It's true..."

"Well..." The stallion said, still grinning a little as he lowered his hoof down from his mouth. "That's fine with me. I'm not someone who likes being at the center of attention, even if it is for a good cause. So you won't have to worry about me too much."

"Hey!"

Pinkie Pie's shout drew his attention to her as she bounced back towards them, an excited expression on her face. Even when she finally made her way to their position again, she still continued to bounce up and down like a barely restrained jackrabbit. "We're about to play "Pin The Tail On The Pony"! You guys wanna come and join us? Huh?" She was quick to turn her look to Silas, keeping up her hyperactive tirade. "Since you're the guest of honor, Silas, you can be the first one to be blindfolded!"

"Wait a minute, _what_? No, wait, I don't think that's a-"

Despite his immediate protests, his eyes were suddenly encompassed in a blindfold. "C'mon, don't be shy..." Pinkie said encouragingly, taking one of his hooves in hers and dragging him towards the others, who were watching and waiting. "It's all fun and games, remember?"

"Only that I suck at this type of game..." Silas grumbled under his breath, giving up his struggles and allowing himself to be pulled to the appropriate spot. He might as well have been trying to keep himself from learning anything at all. If he wanted to gain more knowledge, he would have to blend in with the surroundings. This was only the first step to do so. So he would go along with what was going on. It was the only way to understand anything in this new world...

...even if it meant suffering through the annoyance that Pinkie Pie was stirring up within him.

"Don't fall..." Rainbow Dash snickered, moving over to hand him the respective pin before flying off and letting Pinkie Pie continue to drag him.

With a heavy sigh, he waited until he was stopped and placed in a certain position before beginning his approach to where he thought the picture was.

* * *

><p>"I'm so exhausted..."<p>

In the midst of the near empty library, Twilight Sparkle let out a groan and slumped on her stomach, ignoring the confetti as they poked her sides. No matter how many times she attended Pinkie's parties, she would never have the energy needed to go through the entire length of the festive activity without surrendering to fatigue. Somehow, the party managed to last the entire day. Normally, she would've wondered about how such a feat would be possible. But, then again, _Pinkie Pie_ was the host of it.

As she brought her weary gaze to her friends, she could see that she wasn't the only one that had fallen victim to exhaustion. Rarity was laying on the therapy sofa that she had somehow managed to bring without anyone paying immediate attention to it. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were in the same position she was in – sprawled out on the ground in their own posture. Even Pinkie Pie, the bouncing ball of energy, could barely stand and keep herself from falling asleep.

"If I knew... this was going to happen... I wouldn't have bothered to come in the first place..." Rarity breathed, slightly miffed about dropping her lady-like demeanor even out of party fatigue.

"You know this was a great party..." Rainbow Dash gasped, looking over to her pink friend and sporting an amused grin. "...when even _Pinkie_ gets tired from it."

"Hey! I am _not_-" Pinkie Pie's retaliatory protest was promptly cut off when she stopped to let out a big yawn, one of her forehooves raising itself to her mouth in an attempt to stop it. She blinked a few times, revealing minor bags under her eyes. "...tired..." She finished in a drowsy manner.

"No kidding..." Applejack agreed with Rainbow Dash's statement, slowly bringing herself up to her hooves and looking over at Pinkie Pie with a tired, but satisfied smile. "We gotta do this again real soon. Don't know what happened make this more fun than it usually was, but I don't think it really matters, does it?"

"Of course no-" Pinkie began to say, but voluntarily cut herself off this time. Her expression changed to one of weary cheer to thoughtfulness – a facial change that brought the attention of her five friends. "Wait a minute. I didn't see Silas leave. Where's he?"

"And where's Spike?" Twilight added, blinking as she looked around the room.

"Oh...my..."

Fluttershy's giggles snapped everyone to her attention. However, she couldn't bring herself to say anything. While one of her forehooves were covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her mouth, she pointed the other towards the catalyst of her laughter. This prompted all of them to turn towards that particular direction... and they too found themselves trying not to laugh at what they saw.

Silas was sound asleep with an empty cup on his nose, lying on his back and sprawled out in a reckless, lazy manner. On his stomach was an equally knocked out Spike, lying on his stomach in a horizontal position with a lampshade covering his own head. Both of them were snoring audibly – a clear indication that they had both fallen deep into slumber.

"The poor things..." Rarity tried her best to sound sympathetic, but her own bits of laughter kept that particular tone from being achieved.

Getting up from her laying position, Rainbow Dash flew over to them and landed right beside Silas's head. "Hey, the party's over..." She said, reaching over to poke the stallion in the head. "You can wake up no-"

She jumped back a little out of surprise when Silas's eyes abruptly shot open, his eyes dilating to minimal levels.

"_**SPY'S SAPPING MY DISPENSER!"**_ He roared, abruptly knocking Spike off of him (earning a yelping protest from the small dragon as he was woken up from his own sleep), climbing onto his hooves, lurching forward blindly-

-and slammed head-first into a wall, emitting a yell of pain as sense was literally knocked back into him and he fell on his haunches.

Needless to say, this was the break in the dam. The six ponies couldn't hold it in any longer, and they shared a laugh at him as he violently shook his head before turning around to regard them with confusion. When he realized what he had just done, his face flushed with annoyance and embarrassment and his mouth formed an irritated scowl. "...shut up..." He grumbled, his ears flopping down.

"First time I've ever seen someone do _that_ when they wake up..." Applejack commented, approaching him. "You all right, hon?"

"Yeah..." Silas grumbled, slowly bring himself up into a standing position. However, he winced a little when he felt pain shoot up his injured leg. "Damn it... I had to push myself too hard. My leg's been sore all day, but now it's annoying me like crazy." He let out a light groan, lifting the affected leg and working it out just to make sure he could still walk. "I can ignore it, though..."

"Anyway..." Rainbow Dash said, drawing his attention over to her. "In case you didn't get it while you were in your little moment, the party's over. So we're heading back to our homes."

"...home...?"

Silas's mood changed from annoyed to slightly nervous at the word "homes", his body tensing up a little. He just remembered that he had been dropped from one world to another, and that only he had been brought for the ride. He had no money, no possessions, nothing he could claim as his own personal belongings. If his "employer" had been kind enough to at least give him some money to start off with, it would've made him at least _feel_ a bit better. As he was, he might as well have been a hobo wandering through.

"Well, yeah..." Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and frowned a little at the nervous expression on his face. "Don't you have a home of your own to get to?"

"...yeah, about that...um..." Silas suddenly found an interest in watching the ceiling. "About that... you see, I'd rather not explain any details about it, so long story short – I don't exactly _have_ a place to live... or anything I could use to get myself a house. It's just me, myself, and I." It earned a gasp from some of his audience, particularly Fluttershy. It was no surprise, considering her sensitivity towards others.

"You're homeless?" She said, her tone full of sympathy and worry. "That's _awful_!"

"Well, it's nothing to really worry about!" Rarity exclaimed, leaping up off of the sofa and walking over to Silas. "If it's no problem with you, of course, you're free to stay at my home until you're able to get yourself on your feet again. I happen to have two spare guest rooms in the event that something happened to my or my sister's current rooms. So there's no need to worry about room or you taking up any space..."

"Really?"

Normally, Silas would've been put off at the idea of being in a girl's room. But he was facing seriously tough times here, essentially on poverty status. The thought of the unicorn taking him in with such a carefree flair was enough to bring a bright smile on his face, his eyes sparkling with happiness. He stood up, taking a brief and almost comical bounce into the air. "You really mean that?" He exclaimed, gratitude clear in his voice. "Thank you very much, Rarity! Y-you don't know how much you've just helped me out right now!"

"You sure, Rarity?" Applejack questioned, cocking a slight eyebrow. "I mean, staying overnight is one thing, but having someone stay for a good while..."

"Oh, it's no problem..." Rarity said in a light-hearted fashion. "I may not be the best when it comes to kids, but I don't think I have to worry about someone with a mature mind."

"Oh, I assure you, I won't be _any_ problem at all! You won't even know I was there!" Silas insisted, continuing to bounce up and down. He probably knew that he was making himself look like a moron, but he really didn't care at this point. After all, he was offered _free lodgings_, not to mention a new way to start off his life! Of course, he did have to wonder about his "employer" and when he would come back, but it was far from his mind. He would come to it later.

"Yes, all right, dear!" Rarity's face had a bit of pensiveness in it, and she held a warning hoof out. However, she was the only one who seemed at least a little bit worried, as the others seemed to be watching him with their own looks of amusement and happiness. "You're probably very happy about this, but you were just complaining about your leg, and-"

Silas landed.

"AUGH! Oh, there goes my right butt-cheek..."

Rarity slapped a hoof to her face in embarrassment, while the others started laughing again at the stallion's blunder and choice of words. At the very least, she hoped that he wouldn't end up to be another Sweetie Belle. One clumsy pony was bad enough, but two would just bring ruin to her shop. She had just gotten over the incident with Cheerilee and Big Macintosh, when the hypnotized teacher ended up destroying her front door in her craze. The fashion pony could be generous when she wanted to, hence her element... but even she knew she had to be careful.

"All right, all of you..." She cleared her throat, stopping everyone's laughter. "It's been quite fun, but a lady does have to get her beauty sleep and I don't want to keep my guest waiting longer than he has to." She turned away, walking away from the group and towards the door. "Come along, Silas."

"Y-yes, ma'am..." As Silas immediately trotted as best as he could behind her, he couldn't help but note how he couldn't match up to the pleasantry and high-class behavior she was expressing. He found himself lowering his head while looking up at her leading form, only to keep looking away after a few seconds. He didn't remember being feel so intimidated by someone else's presence before... at least, not in this particular way. She exerted the aura of a high-school queen stereotype, but her personality was much more inviting and a lot less shrewd. It seemed a crime to be even near her, yet he felt easily comfortable in her presence.

"_I wonder what Cassie would've said about her..."_

He barely registered the farewells and goodbyes coming from the rest of them as he shut the door behind him, leaving the rest of them to their business.

Rainbow Dash stretched out a little, the exhaustion once again overtaking her person. "All right, I really think it's time for this pegasus to head to bed..." She said, straightening up and walking towards the closed door. "I'll see you guys out."

"Thanks, sugarcube." Applejack said politely, nodding appropriately to the rainbow-maned pegasus as she opened the door back up. As she exited, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were not too far behind her.

"Thanks for having us again, you guys!" Pinkie Pie said, giving a wave to her purple friends. In turn, they waved back readily.

"No problem!" Twilight said lightly, waiting until Pinkie shut the door in order to stop waving. Then, her ears flopped downward, and her expression changed from cheery to annoyed in less than a second. "Yeah... I wish I could say the same for the mess left behind." With a resolute sigh, she walked to the center of the room. "C'mon, Spike. This mess isn't going to clean itself, unfortunately..."

"Yeah, yeah..." The dragon grumbled, reluctantly stalking off to find a broom. "The worst thing about parties..."


	7. Chapter 6: Did You Use Protection?

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**A/N:**Hello, everyone! Just wanted to make a couple of things clear about my current MLP story "Introduce A Little Anarchy..."

One: The names of Silas's friends sounded too... elegant and strange-sounding. So I decided to go with simpler, yet still memorable names. Beretta's new name will be Russell Cooper, and Evelyn's new name will be Cassandra (no last name change). I'll make modifications to the chapters to replace their old names with their new ones.

Two: After serious consideration, I think that aside from the prologue (which I might just delete/modify to fit standards), the whole story's looking in the direction of a T-rating rather than an M-rated one. I've changed that, as well as the genres. Hopefully, there won't be too much confusion about it.

* * *

><p><strong>SUBJECT NAME:<strong> Silas York

**LOCATION:** Rarity's Fashion Boutique

**OBJECTIVE:** Connection to the system.

**STATUS:** Stable. Subject has begun to adapt to his environment and adjust with interactivity. Reversion in progress...

The day came far too early for Silas.

When the morning sun hit eyes and the distant sound of a rooster hit his ears, he was forced to awaken from his peaceful slumber. He let out an annoyed groan, but slowly opened his eyes to reveal slightly bloodshot schlera. He did not allow himself to get up and out of the bed just yet. After all, who would want to leave the feeling of safety and comfort that a bed would provide? It was just too much to ask someone to immediately jump out of the covers and get ready for the day.

Plus, the fact that he was even in a bed hit him harder than any punch to the face would have done. No longer did the fear of an angry mother or father striking him awake have any power of him. No more did he have to suffer pain and sorrow every day of his life. For the first time in several years, he slept and woke up without fear or apprehension of what was ahead of him. It was a feeling that pushed away all of his worries in the corner and replaced them with a feeling of peace.

Of course, it was only a temporary kindness fate would give him.

Although his new settings were very hospitable, they didn't keep him from remembering the situation he was in. He still didn't know why he was here in the first place or what his "employer" had in store for him. He still didn't know the workings of the world around him or understand the existence of its inhabitants such as the pegasi, the unicorns, and the overall fact that the horses could speak and act with human nature. Above all, he certainly didn't know how he would adapt to this newfound lifestyle that he was given.

Slowly, he allowed himself to slide out of the bed and inspect his surroundings. The room was decorated in a mix of purple. The walls, floor and ceiling were a lighter shade, and the bedsheets were a dark violet color that stood out brilliantly with the other color shades. At the same time, the color of the room was situated in a manner that would not hurt the eyes. The space within the room was wide enough for two people to move around and even play ball in. It was a perfect setting that one could get easily comfortable in, making it no wonder that Silas hadn't bothered to complain much about it when he first came to it.

A large mirror opposite of his bed caught his eye as he continued to look around, and he walked over to check out his own reflection in the mirror. His bedraggled hair was strung out and stuck out everywhere on his head – a rather distracting and annoying sight for him. His coat seemed to be in better condition, his fur still smoothed out and straightened as it had been. Despite him having a good sleep, he could still see mild bags underneath his eyes. Those would hopefully come to pass as the day progressed.

As he continued to stare at his reflection, he thought about what had transpired in the days before. The inhabitants of the town seemed docile and friendly to an extent. The six he had been personally acquainted with proved that much. However, he had been fortunate enough to be introduced to the same situation prior to his death. Everyone, to their own extent, had been friendly and inviting to him. Everyone had liked him for who and what he was. He had been comfortable, living that life.

That is, until everyone decided to drop their facade and turn on him as quickly as one could bat an eyelash.

He knew he had to be more careful. He may have expressed himself too much in their company already in yesterday's party. They would be making their own conclusions already about him, and some of those might be too close to home. There was no way he was going to let a repeat of history happen to him just because greetings and salutations had been warm and inviting. But at the same time, he would have to gain as much information as possible about the town and its residents. It would be a challenge of wit, intelligence, and maybe even luck – but he had made it this far. What could go wrong?

Smirking a little, he turned away from the mirror and walked towards the door, shaking his head violently in order to rid himself of his bedraggled appearance. He pushed open the door, stepped out into the hallway, and closed it shut with a light kick from his back leg. As he walked down the lone hallway leading to the stairwell, his hooves kept making clopping sounds that echoed and reverberated lightly through the walls. This prompted him to turn his eyes to the walls themselves and let them wander for a moment.

He blinked.

And suddenly, the scenery changed from normal and boring to a sight that paralyzed him down to the bone.

No longer was he staring at the blue of Rarity's hallway, but the bright orange hallways that led towards the room he could only call "Death Wing". He saw his body bound to a gurney by belt restraints to restrict his movements. He saw the emotionless and indifferent faces of the ones hauling him off to the room where he would be injected with the three drugs that would end his life. He couldn't run away. He couldn't seek the shelter of his two friends who were awaiting the very same fate he was. All he could do was wait as they prepared to strip away his freedom and silence him forever.

And then, it was all over.

He was back to where he was, standing in the empty hallway.

He wanted out of there. _Now_.

His legs pushed him forward quickly, and he jogged towards the stairwell to make his way down the steps. His heart was racing, his body slightly quivering with each and ever step that he made. He didn't care if he woke up Rarity. All he cared about was getting out of that hallway, away from the horrible image that had flashed within his head. As long as he was within those confines, his mind would keep screwing with him and remind him just how foolish it was to attempt to forget what had happened.

So wrapped up within his panic, he didn't notice that he had already made it off of the last step and was now turning the corner...

"-and then I said, hot dogs? You must have lost your mind if-"

...only to stop like a deer caught in headlights upon seeing three other unicorns that were sitting at the kitchen table aside from Rarity, who was at the stove.

One of them was a small, white-coated filly that had green eyes and a curly mane just like her sister's. In contrast, however, it had a sort of colonial wig style to it as well as a light-dark purple color scheme. Due to her size and younger visage, Silas could assume right away that she was the younger sister that Rarity had been talking about earlier.

The male unicorn also had a white coat, blue eyes, a brown mane, and thick eyebrows. The female had a pink coat, blue eyes, and a royal purple mane that was in a style that screamed the words "Soccer Mom". The thing that caught his attention the most, however, was the fact that they were actually wearing clothes as opposed to the "free style" that the he and the two younger females were going by. The male had a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat to match, while the female wore a red-orange shirt with white pants.

This, as well as the fact that all eyes were on him, made him feel increasingly awkward with every second that passed by. Everyone was staring at him, and he couldn't bring himself to say anything under the unwanted attention. He sucked in his lips, turning his face away but keeping his eyes locked on the group in general. If he knew he was going to be regarded in such a manner, he would've never bothered to step foot in the room.

"Oh! Um..."

Sensing his growing discomfort, Rarity decided to pull him out of the fire and break the silence. "Mother, Father, Sweetie Belle..." She began hesitantly, drawing her family's attention to her instead. She motioned towards the silent, red-eyed stallion with one of her hooves. "This is Silas. I'm sorry I neglected to tell you about him straight away, but-"

"Wow, Sis!" The so-called Sweetie Belle cut her off, running to stand right in front of her. What had been an innocent look now converted to one of a sly and knowing demeanor. This made Rarity re-coil a bit, leaning back when the filly leaned forward a little. "I never knew you had a very special somepony of your own!"

If it was a show, the audible sound of glass breaking would've been heard at that moment.

Rarity and Silas's eyes shot open and dilated at the clear implication of a relationship, and both of them didn't hesitate to shoot out their own protests.

"Whoa, whoa, let's not jump to conclusions here!" Silas shouted, raising both of his forehooves up frantically and dismissing his discomfort momentarily. "I mean, I just came in _yesterday_!"

"Exactly!" Rarity added in readily. "There's nothing like that going on between us, he's just-"

"Oh, Rarity..." Now it was time for the mother to cut in, her head shaking in mirthful disapproval. It was here that he noted her mid-Western accent, which was the same accent that the father was using prior to the entry. "You don't need to be shy about the boyfriends you choose. After all, you _are_ a young lady and know how to make your own decisions. As long as he's not the jerky type who likes to push the mares around..."

"Hey, you!" The father directed his tone towards the shell-shocked Silas, his tone slightly stern. "You better be treating my daughter right and not making her do things she doesn't want to. Kids are okay, but kids you're not ready to take care of is nothing but trouble!"

Another crack in the glass.

These words nearly caused Rarity and Silas's jaws to drop to the ground, their faces of a mixture of shock and embarrassment. They also managed to destroy any chance of coherence the two might have had in their responses, dissolving their words into stammers and stutters. But it was Sweetie Belle's excited statement that took the cake.

"Oooh, oooh! Does this mean I get to be an older sister, too?" She asked eagerly, hopping up and down. "I want to have a little sister, too!"

The glass smashed completely.

"A-all of you...!" Silas's voice was hoarse as he spoke, and he had to resort to covering his face with his hoof in order to keep the redness of his face from showing. He could feel his cheeks heating up, his ears flopping downward, and he would've been glad to say that such a reaction was only out of anger and frustration due to their accusations. But the thought of him and Rarity together in such a manner drove any possibility of that out the window.

"Please!" Rarity pleaded, her own cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Even though she could finally bring herself to speak clearly, she could barely keep herself from looking away from her family. "This is no more than someone I'm housing! He just came into town, and from what he told me, he was homeless and without money! I simply couldn't bring myself to leave him as he was. He's only staying here so that he can get back up on his hooves again, that's all!"

"...so that means I won't get to be a big sister?" Sweetie Belle deflated immediately. "Aw, shucks..." She walked back to her spot at the stable, sitting down and sulking.

"Really?" Both the mother and father turned to look at Silas in order to inspect him, the mother being the one to speak. Her tone was curious. "Now that you mention it, he does look sort of homely looking, like he's been traveling a lot."

"First you embarrass me, and then you follow up with insults..." Silas muttered, taking in a deep breath in order to calm himself. "Is this how you usually greet visitors?" In truth, he really didn't care much. He probably _did_ look homely, but to have someone actually say it to his face was somewhat demeaning to him.

"We're sorry, dear..." The mother cooed, offering a look of sympathy. "You can blame maternal instinct for assuming that you two were a couple. But now that's out of the way, how about we actually get acquainted? Come on, don't be shy!"

With the flush fading away from his face, Silas lowered his hoof and walked to the unoccupied spot. The table was small enough for him to sit down on his haunches, so he didn't have to worry about being unable to reach anything. The morning grogginess began to kick in once again, the brief ordeal having drained him of what little energy he had. When Rarity sat down beside him in the remaining spot that they had to put his own plate beside him, the two looked briefly at each other with equally weary eyes. It wasn't the best way to start off the morning...

"What's your name, dear?" The mother asked him.

"...Silas..." He responded drearily, raising his hoof to his mouth to cover up a yawn. "Nice to meet you- OW!"

Rarity had sharply elbowed him in the side, and he spun his head around to give her an annoyed glare. "Hey, what the hell's _your_ problem?" He asked irritatedly, shrinking back slightly under her own stern stare.

"Don't be rude, you're a guest!" She scolded.

"Oh, it's fine, really!" The mother assured, giving Silas a warm smile. "Mornings aren't the best time of day, and it's a good thing they don't last long. Where are you from, dear?"

Sweetie Belle as well as her father had fallen silent and taken interest into simply listening into the conversation, their eyes mostly on the sleepy-eyed guest. The elder male was more subtle about it, choosing to eat his breakfast in front of him. The filly, however, was making her eavesdropping very obvious by just staring at both her sister and her guest. If anyone noticed, they simply chose not to pay attention to it.

Silas blinked a few times, turning away from Rarity and back to the group in general. The sharp blow to his ribs helped a little, unfortunately. "Would it be plausible to say that in the long time that I've been traveling, I forgot?" He put on a sheepish smile. "I've been out of the home and on the road for years, and I never could stick to one place at any given time. It's just not in my nature."

"Well, that's funny. What exactly made you decide to stay here, of all places?" The elder female questioned."

"Just one of those times I ran out of money..."

Silas was surprised at how easily the lies were slipping from his mouth. He almost felt guilty for doing it. After all, this was the same person who had generously offered him the place to stay in the first place. But what else was he supposed to do? The truth would be unbelievable, and he doubted it would suit well with them if they knew who he really was. There was no choice but to continue handing out false statements while keeping a stone face. They just wouldn't understand any other way.

Unbeknownst to him, Rarity was now regarding him with curiosity, her own mind working out what he said. He claimed to have forgotten where he was from – a sign that where he lived and was raised wasn't memorable. From what she herself was exposed to everyday, most ponies tended to know their homes straight from the heart, even if those very same homes were boring or abysmal. Based from what he said, he was on the road for a year-long period, at the very least.

What could've happened to make him homeless and on the road for so long?

"I hope to get a job here, get some money, and then go on my merry way-" Silas began to say, but was immediately cut off by the voice of the mother once again.

"Moving _again_? That's no way to live if you're just going to end up bitless again!" She exclaimed, frowning. "Why don't you just stay and settle down, here in Ponyville? I'm pretty sure it's more comfortable than having to spend all your days trekking dirt roads and all that."

"Well..." Silas's ears flattened down once again momentarily, and he averted his eyes away from the female in thought. "I never really thought about it..." That part was another half-truth. Although he could easily find comfort within his current surroundings, he never thought about actually making a life within the town. The residents, despite everything, had thrown him a greeting _party_, for crying out loud! Who would've done that back in Texas? Who would've taken the time to greet a complete stranger and make them feel welcome? No one would've, and that's why the idea of finally settling down seemed so tempting.

"Just give it some more thought, sweetie." The mother encouraged. "But I do hope that in the end, you decide to stay. You seem to be a nice guy, and I think you'll get used to the coziness in this little town of ours."

"_So you think..."_ Silas thought to himself cynically, but remained silent.

"Sweetie Belle?" The father had directed his own attention towards his fellow eavesdropper, who stared back in curiosity. "You got everything you need?" He put on a grin, reaching out to playfully ruffle up her mane and earning a giggle. "I don't want to come back and see you pouting because you happened to forget something before we leave!"

"Yup!" Sweetie Belle beamed. "Everything plus the few necessities!"

"Good, good..." The father turned towards Rarity, his voice snapping her out of her gazing at Silas. "Hope it's not too much trouble letting Sweetie Belle stay for a week while you've got another in housing, what with your fashion business going on and all."

"No, no, I assure you, it's fine!" The fashionista insisted, raising up a hoof in emphasis. "It's not like I'm looking after two children here. Both Silas and I are adults, so I trust that he won't cause much of a ruckus as Sweetie Belle will." This abruptly made Sweetie Belle fall into a pouting and sulking mood once again. No offense to her..." She added quickly. "But she's prone to clumsiness when it comes to attempting to help me around, and most likely I'll need someone else to help me catch her."

_SMACK!_

"OW!" Silas immediately hissed, yanking his elbow off of the table when Rarity smacked it again. "For crying out loud, are we going to make this a habit?" He snapped, rubbing the area which had been struck. Even when he was a horse, hooves _hurt_!

"Only as you making a habit of showing bad manners." Rarity scolded, her eyes closed in an expression of firmness... and haughtiness, as far as Silas was concerned. "I will _not_ have you act that way in front of my parents!"

"So that makes it okay to hit me every time I do something wrong?" Silas growled, abruptly standing up and turning to face her. In response, she allowed herself to stand up in order to meet his annoyed glare evenly with her own.

"Sometimes you have to be rough in order to show that you care about others."

"Oh, really? How about I take my legs and show you just how much I care by kicking you over the horizon?"

In their argument, however, they were unintentionally drawing the idea of a relationship back to the minds of Rarity's family members, who were regarding each other with knowing looks.

"You know, I still think our little dear's shy about telling us who her boyfriends are..." The mother teased, instantly silencing Rarity and Silas and prompting them to produce shocked looks once again.

"From the way they fight, I think they might be already hitched!" The father added cheekily.

"Oooh, this means that I can still have a baby sister!" Sweetie Belle squealed.

This effectively stopped the argument between the two. After regarding each other with shock and horror, their faces immediately turned red, and they quickly averted their eyes away from each other with a "Hmph!" from each individual. In turn, this caused both parents to laugh heartily at their reaction. Sweetie Belle, however, once again fell into a moping mood now that she knew her mom and dad were only kidding this time.

"Well, I'm done eating..." The father stood himself up from his seat and pushed it in, looking over to his wife. "Ready to go, sweetie?"

The woman nodded, her smile a mile wide as she stood up from her seat as well to push it in. "Ready when you are..." As her husband walked over to her side, she turned to look back at the two who were still turned away from each other in embarrassment. "Good-bye and have fun, you three!"

"You too, Mom, Dad!" Sweetie Belle cheered, being the only one to actually return the good-bye. She watched as the two elder ponies trotted out of the room and disappeared from sight. She waited until she heard the front door open and close before turning towards Silas and Rarity and trotting over towards the female.

"So, Sis!" She said eagerly, drawing Rarity's attention once again and ignoring Silas even as he made his way past her and to his untouched plate. "What should we do first? Frog catching, dress making, going out to enjoy the nice summer day-"

"Well, first..." Rarity began, drawing her attention to the uncleared table. "We have to clean this table off, now that all of us are done using it. It's going to be harder, now that _someone_-" She emphasized this with a glare at Silas as he took a fork and stabbed both of the scrambled eggs with it. "-didn't even bother to touch his food-"

_SPLAT!_

The next moment, she found the two scrambled eggs making a home on her face, covering both of her eyes.

"And now, miss Rarity..." Silas snickered, a hoof to his mouth in a vain attempt to suppress his laughter. "From this point onward, I deem you with the title of egghead."

He was promptly met with a hoof to his jaw several seconds later.


	8. Chapter 7: Not Good With Children

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**A/N: **Hello again! In my valiant (and maybe futile or pointless) attempts to promote this particular MLP story, I've put up a trope page for it. Just go on TVTropes and look up "Introduce A Little Anarchy", and it'll show right away. Feel free to add more tropes that apply to the story if you so desire.

That's all I have to say now. Go away.

Oh, and please read and review as always.

* * *

><p>"Wow, Silas. Even I don't have that happen to me when <em>I<em> make Rarity angry."

"I wouldn't do such a thing to my _sister_, no matter how reckless you can prove to be- wait a minute. _Even_ you? You make it sound like I would really hit you in a situation like that!"

"Well, you _did_ seem like you were going to when I cleaned your work room up for you. You were grinding your teeth together, turning red in the face, and giving off the impression that you were going to explode into a million pieces..."

"Well, nevertheless! I would never hit you in any circumstance. So you won't have to worry about it."

An irritated Silas had an ice-pack to his left eye as he walked alongside Rarity and Sweetie Belle flanking her on the other side. Being punched in the face hurt, no doubt. Being punched in the face with a hoof in place of a fist made him wonder how he managed to keep his eye within his socket. But being punched in the face by a _girl_? _In front of a child?_ Those facts, combined with the consideration that he had virtually allowed himself to fall under her mercy of her home, made a hard blow to his masculine pride.

He had no problems with punching a girl in the face if she was haughty, annoying, bratty, and downright rotten enough. But Rarity was only trying to make herself look good with him in the presence of her family. Her methods of doing so may have been unnecessary and antagonizing, but he couldn't really blame her. Besides, he doubted that he could even bring himself to openly strike someone who had such a beautiful face and a majestic countenance. It would've been defiling a god.

Wait a minute. Was he allowing himself to get swayed by the looks of a pony... again?

He was seriously starting to lose it. He needed to break away from such thoughts.

"Did you _really_ have to punch me?" He complained, shivering a little at the coldness of the ice-pack. The sunny day relieved him of having to worry about it being too cold on his face. Even as he held it, it continued to drip on the ground and left a miniscule trail of water behind him. "All I did was throw eggs on your face, nothing serious."

"They could've been still hot and scolded me!" Rarity said indignantly. "Not only did you endanger my complexion, but you also could've made me blind! Besides that, you took the food that I prepared for you and literally threw it back at me! Don't you have any consideration for other ponies' feelings or safety at all?"

...okay, when she put it that way, it _did_ make him sound like a complete jerk...

"Oooh, she has you there..." Sweetie Belle piped in.

The filly certainly wasn't helping matters.

Gritting his teeth and reminding himself that she was only a kid, Silas kept his conversational dialogue to Rarity. "It was either eat my food and ignore your mom, or ignore my food and listen out of respect for her. I didn't have a choice in the matter."

"And you couldn't do both?" Rarity asked skeptically.

"Nope."

"...I'm beginning to take back what I said about you having a mature mind. At this point, I fear that I actually might have to end up taking care of _two_ children instead of one."

"_Hey!_" Silas said indignantly, scowling. "I can act mature if I want to! I just don't feel like it most of the time. It's boring, and it gets you worked up when you should be feeling good! Not to mention..." He squinted his visible eye, peering at the elder white unicorn. "Don't you know what they say about people who try to act mature and disciplined? Those types of people fear their childhood and are just doing everything they can to avoid it. I, on the other hand, embrace it fully, for it is the part of life everyone should treasure."

"What a ridiculous statement." Rarity sniffed. "It may be a good part of our lives, but it's also past us now."

"But Sis!" Sweetie Belle once again jumped into the conversation in protest, looking at Rarity with slight concern. "Didn't you say you got your Cutie Mark when you were a filly?"

"Hm?" This caused Rarity to regard her with slight surprise. "Well, yes I did, but-"

"And didn't you say that it was one of the happiest moments of your life?" Sweetie Belle pressured, stopping abruptly. In turn, this caused Silas and Rarity to unconsciously stop with her out of interest in where the conversation was turning. Silas even allowed himself to walk so that they were positioned in a standard "talk circle". "So, wouldn't that mean it would still be good to remember when you were younger?"

"Of course!" Rarity insisted. Inwardly, she was astonished by the way Sweetie Belle was speaking. Normally, this would have been the same clumsy and occasionally blank-minded filly she had grown to love and be annoyed by. But clearly it was one of those times where she was letting her intelligence show for once. However, it didn't mean that it would sway her opinion any. "But that doesn't give a valid excuse to behave like a child when you're clearly mature enough to-"

"Face it, Rarity." Silas smirked. "You're just being an old granny right now. I wouldn't be surprised if you started growing your very own gray hair by tomorrow."

"_You take that back_!" Rarity immediately re-coiled as if she had just been slapped, taking a few steps back out of reflex. Her face changed to one of sheer panic, and one of her forehooves shot up to bring her curly mane in front of her eyes. "There's no greyness in my mane, is there?" Dropping her mane, she – much to both Silas's and Sweetie Belle's amusement – started to spin around in an attempt to look at her tail. This resulted in her spinning around like a dog trying to catch a tail, but to no avail. "What about my tail? If there's so much as a grey strand, I just don't know what I'll-"

She abruptly stopped herself at the sound of Sweetie Belle and Silas finally losing it and laughing loudly.

It took only a few moments for her to realize what she was doing, and the embarrassment set in quickly. Angrily, she sat herself down on her haunches, flopped her ears downward, and scowled. She could not hide the bright red blush that spread across her face. Once again, Silas had lured her straight into a trap and left her flustered just as easily as he had done to Rainbow Dash.

"D'awww~..."

As she was looking away, she bristled in surprise once again when Silas wrapped his forelegs around her shoulders and brought her into a hug. Fortunately for her, he had disregarded the icepack and dropped it on the ground. However, she could still feel the wetness on the hoof he had held it in, the water leaving minor drop stains on her fur. She paid it no mind, focusing on the fact that the stallion had hugged her without warning. "Silas?" She squeaked, unable to move due to the proximity of their bodies. "What are you-?"

"Sorry..." Silas had a cheeky smile on his face. "You just look so _cute_ when you're angry. I couldn't resist."

"Grr!" Rarity fumed once more, squirming slightly in his hold and was about to push him off of her when he spoke again, this time in a serious, but still mirthful tone.

"But, seriously. You do realize I was just joking with you, right? You're just a bit too uptight for your own good. Too much stress actually does cause gray hairs, which would look real bad on your visage. Relax, learn to laugh a little, all right?"

During the whole time, Sweetie Belle had taken to watching the scene with sparkling eyes and a wide grin. It didn't matter to her what either of them said. With such scenes, it was so obvious that they were meant to be each other's special somepony! She jumped in the air, floating for a brief, cartoonish moment while saying her own "Awww!" at them. Neither of them, thankfully, had seemed to notice it.

Rarity sighed, relaxing in his hold and relenting. "I suppose you're right, darling...but must you suddenly _hug_ me while telling me this? I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but-"

"Well..." Silas sniffed, pulling away from Rarity once he was sure she had calmed down. "I guess you can consider it my pay back for using your eggs as weapons to throw at you. Truthfully, I found it funny. But it _was_ a bit inconsiderate on my end. For that, I'm sorry. I promise not to do it again, okay?" For emphasis, he gave a lopsided smile.

In turn, this caused Rarity to grin as well. "Well..." She commented with slight amusement. "It seems that you are capable of being a dear and a gentleman, after all."

Silas promptly stuck out his tongue and blew her a raspberry. It was another immature gesture, but one that clearly expressed good humor. "Well, I _did_ say that I could be mature when I wanted to. I just don't want to most of the ti-"

"Sweetie Belle!"

All three of their heads turned at the sound of the two voices to see two more fillies approach them with great haste and excitement. One of them had a yellow coat, orange eyes and a red mane with a moderately large bow tie fixed on the back of her head. The other had an orange coat and a purple mane that matched the color of her own eyes. Silas couldn't help but note the fact that they looked like little poodles running to their master.

"Scootaloo! Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, bouncing up in the air once again before coming back down. "What's up?"

"Ah just thought this awesome idea on how to get our Cutie Marks!" The yellow pony exclaimed, a strong Southern accent in her voice. She looked just as eager as her two compatriots as she spoke. "Y'all remember when we took a look a' those Zap Apples, right?"

This caused Silas to incline his head in perplexity. Of course, the first thing that came to mind when he heard such an accent was Applejack. So could he easily say that she and this one were related in some way? Of course, such an initial belief would just come off as a stereotype. For all he knew, there could've been a good majority of the populace who spoke with the Ozark accent. But then again, there didn't seem to be any Western-based structures other than Sweet Apple Acres...

And Cutie Marks?

Was that what they referred to the tattoos on their buttocks as?

…and there was that awkward feeling again.

"Well, yeah..." Sweetie Belle said, blinking owlishly. "What about 'em? We're not gonna try bucking on them again, are we?"

The yellow pony paused for a moment, raising a fore-hoof to her chin in thought. "Well... we _could_..." She admitted, slightly hesitant. "But that would take a lot of waitin', and there'd be no point to it if we could do it on one o' the normal trees n' save time."

Wait a minute, what are they even talking about? Bucking on a tree? It sounded very...

"_That_'s your great idea?" The orange pony looked a bit irritated now, glaring at the yellow pony. "Bucking apple trees? That's _boring_! We need something more _exciting_ to do other than _trees_!"

Oh, wasn't Rarity saying anything about this? She would gladly jump on _him_ in the case that he did something indecent or rude, but she didn't seem to be paying any attention to the conversation!

The yellow pony was quick to jump back, shooting her own glare right back at her friend. "Oh, _really_?" She drawled, the Southern accent making her sarcasm a bit amusing to listen to. "An' what exactly do _you_ have 'n' mind, _Scootaloo_? We already did all the excitin' stuff long before!"

"Well..." The said Scootaloo instantly relented, a thoughtful expression on her face and remaining silent for a moment. Then, after a few seconds of thinking, she shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Something with each other?"

"Oh, my!" Sweetie Belle piped in.

"Good god, you're only children!" Silas blurted, unable to stop himself. "Why are you all talking like that?"

Silence. Rarity, who had been smart enough not to say anything the whole time, rolled her eyes and looked away. As for the three fillies, they regarded him with surprise as if seeing him for the first time. That was the case for Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, naturally. As for Sweetie Belle, she seemed to be regarding him with a blank look as if completely confused by what he said. It was enough to confirm that he had taken the whole situation completely out of its context – something that should've clicked in his head before.

He had idiotically let the dirtier side of his mind speak for him.

"Uh..." Scootaloo quirked an eyebrow and frowned. "What are _you_ talking about?"

"...nothing..." Silas muttered, his head hanging down in embarrassment and dejection. Inwardly, he was scolding himself for making himself looking like a moron. What would Rarity think of him now? "Nothing at all..."

"More importantly..." Apple Bloom chose this time to speak up, trotting over to him and peering at him. "Who _are_ ya, stranger? Ah don't think ah've seen ya around these parts before. You wouldn't happen t' know mah sister Applejack, would ya? Since yer hangin' out with Rarity, 'n' all..."

Well, at least he had been right on that part.

Sighing, Silas raised his head up and looked down at the filly, giving a weak smile. "Yeah... I met her in the town's welcome party for me at Twilight's." He explained. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Scootaloo perk her head up and approach him – or rather, his backside. This made him frown a little out of slight apprehension. Was it normal for the residents to approach each other's rears in such a blunt and natural manner? "I'm Silas."

"Hmm..." After regarding him for a moment more, Apple Bloom smiled brightly and held a hoof out to him in greeting. "Well, nice to meet ya, mister Silas! My name's Apple Bloom." Her smile grew a bit wider when he reached out to shake her hoof, and thankfully for him, she didn't actually shake him like Applejack did. "You seem like a real nice guy to hang out with."

"Oh, don't flatter me too much, Apple Bloom..." Silas chuckled a little, grinning a little again. "You'll turn me into a softie—"

"Whoa, check this out, you guys!"

Apple Bloom's attention was immediately diverted to Scootaloo, who was analyzing his posterior with great interest. At her call, she and Sweetie Belle immediately zipped to Scootaloo's sides to join her. The caller in question was grinning, pointing at the tattoo on his side. "He's got a _fire_ for _his_ Cutie Mark! Just like Rainbow Dash and her cloud of rainbow lightning!"

"Ooooh~!" Sweetie Belle said. "Wonder what his special talent is!"

"Obviously, he burns stuff. What else could it be?" Apple Bloom said bluntly, as if it explained everything.

"Don't be stupid!" Scootaloo exclaimed irritatedly. "You can't judge a book by it's cover. It would obviously be more complex than that."

"And what're _you_, some sort of _artist_?"

Now children were debating on the purpose behind the tattoo on his buttcheek. He had officially reached a new-time low.

As the three continued to argue, Silas looked to Rarity for any kind of support. However, he fell into even more dismay when he saw her vainly attempting to hide her smile of amusement behind her hoof. Clearly, she knew that he was getting uncomfortable and annoyed by the attention he was getting – and she was _enjoying_ it! She was such a closet sadist! Either that, or maybe she was considering this to be revenge for throwing eggs in her face. Hopefully, the reasoning would be focused in the latter direction and not the former.

His eyes widened slightly when he felt a hoof press itself on his rear, where the tattoo – or rather, Cutie Mark – resided.

"...no, it doesn't heat up when I touch it..." Scootaloo complained, completely innocent and oblivious as to what she was doing. "I don't know, guys, maybe we should-"

"If you appreciate my ass so much, the maybe you should kiss it!"

Following this statement, Silas moved his hips away from Scootaloo before swinging them back, the side of his rear smacking into the young filly's face. She let out a yelp as she was knocked away, promptly landing on her back. This earned a gasp from both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, and they were quick to round on him.

"Hey, why'd you do that?" Apple Bloom demanded. "That was uncalled for!"

"I should be telling _you_ that!" Silas retorted, glaring right back at the fillies. "It's one thing to stare at someone's hindquarters as if it was something normal, but she just downright _groped_ me! Isn't that illegal or something? I could have you three arrested for sexual harassment!"

"Sexually harass _this_!" Sweetie Belle roared, abruptly leaping at him.

"Wait, wha-"

Silas did not even get a chance to finish before he was promptly tackled to the ground by the filly, resulting in a cartoon dust cloud with her unloading on him with a barrage of kicks and punches. He let out surprised yelps and shouts of surprise and pain, trying to push her off of him. But when Apple Bloom and Scootaloo jumped into the fray in order to assist, he found himself immediately overwhelmed. All he could do was yell and exaggeratedly plead for his life.

"ACK! NO! NOT THE FACE! NOT THE FACE!"

Rarity shook her head sagely, averting her eyes away for a moment as the one-sided fight commenced. The stallion only brought this onto himself, and besides, she was taking amusement to watching him get his just-desserts. The only regret was that she didn't have any popcorn or something to eat while watching. She would most likely hear Silas complaining about her sitting and not doing anything, but it was to be expected.

She looked over to the ice-pack Silas had dropped, which had melted completely into water. She used her magic in order to pull it to her side, letting it rest beside her. She could stop the show anytime she wanted, unless the Cutie Mark Crusaders tired themselves out. But for now, she could just sit and enjoy the show. An amused smile graced her face once again.

It was going to be a good day.


	9. Chapter 8: You Are NOT The Father!

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**A/N: **And here is the real chapter, for those of you who had been unfortunate enough to fall for my contribution to April Fools. Hope all of you had a good laugh and will enjoy this next chapter.

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><p>If the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been actually attempting to inflict some damage, Silas would've ended up worse off. Sure, they were children and all. But quite frankly, hooves <em>hurt<em>, even when their blows came from the likes of fillies. Fortunately for him, all they had done was scuff him up a bit, and any injury sustained was minor. On top of that, the scuffle, unlike Rarity's punch to the face, had lightened Silas's mood up a little. It was more like roughhousing between two friendly dogs, or a mother with her puppies.

Now, everything was back to normal again. The three fillies were trotting alongside the two elders while focusing their attention back on Silas. Only now, Silas could feel a bit more comfortable actually responding to them. Scootaloo, as she was apparently called, started the conversation off with the question that should've been asked earlier.

"So, what _is_ your special talent?"

Of course, Silas had to think about this one. If he gave an answer as simple as "burning things", he couldn't be sure how they would take it. Did pyromaniacs even _exist_ in this world? He certainly wasn't about to take that risk.

He shrugged lightly, keeping a casually calm expression on his face and in his tone as not to arouse suspicion. "Deforestation." He explained, allowing his eyes to drift to Scootaloo. "When trees reach the end of their life cycle, they have to be burned down in order to make room for the younger ones. I was hired to do a couple of deforesting jobs while I was traveling on the road. That's how I made money, until demand for such jobs became limited."

"Told ya his special talent was burnin' things." Apple Bloom said smugly, earning a glaring glance from Scootaloo.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Anyway..." The glare immediately shifted into a slightly admirable look as she looked back up to Silas. "You get to _burn_ stuff? That sounds real dangerous... and so _cool_!" The sparkle in her eyes almost made the elder Pegasus flinch a little. It wasn't surprising to hear that a child would speak such things about fire. It was bright, powerful, and could cause quite a display when unleashed into the world. But considering the history he had with it, hearing her say it made him feel somewhat guilty.

"Cool?" Sweetie Belle's confusion was evident on both her face and in her voice. "But... fire's hot. How would that be cool?"

"...it's a figure o' speech, Sweetie Belle..." Apple Bloom muttered, rolling her eyes. "You know, like, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" or "fallin' head o'er hooves"?"

"Oh~! All right, if you say so..."

"Maybe _we_ could get a Cutie Mark in deforestation!" Scootaloo suggested excitedly, her small legs bouncing her up and down.

"I sure hope not!" Rarity sniffed, finally allowing her voice to come in after remaining silent for so long. "Performing stunts with a scooter is one thing, but working with fire is a completely different story. Silas may have gotten his Cutie Mark from that, but it doesn't make his particular job any less dangerous."

"Yeah..." Chuckling weakly, Silas shifted his attention to the fillies when he spoke up. "I'm gonna have to agree with Rarity on that one. At your particular age, it would just present a hazard to you more than someone _our_ ages. Plus, from what I've seen around here..." He paused briefly, turning his head and glancing at other ponies' Cutie Marks as they walked by. "Most of the ponies with Cutie Marks around here seem to have less dangerous "special talents" than me, so something like mine would be pretty rare at best."

That caused all three fillies to deflate, their hopes shot down by the revelation. "Awww..."

And _this_, of course, tugged at Silas's heartstrings. Seeing their ears flop downward and sad expressions on their faces made him think of a litter of depressed puppies, and that thought within such an environment might as well be the most depressing thought ever. As soon as they did it, he found himself following suit. He couldn't help it! He was just too empathetic for his own good when it came to children! He needed to come up with something in order to cheer them up, quick!

"Hey, wait a minute-"

However, he was promptly interrupted by Rarity, who happened to notice that they had reached (and nearly passed) the library. "Wait a minute, you four! We're here!" She exclaimed, lifting a hoof up in order for visual aid in the case that they didn't catch her voice. "And it seems like Twilight's already up and running, as I would've assumed..."

"Wait a minute..." Sweetie Belle blinked owlishly, staring at the literal tree-house in confusion. "Why did we bother to come along in the first place when we could be off somewhere else getting our Cutie Marks?"

It was slightly funny to Silas to see the other two fillies give her a look as if the thought had never occurred to them before. Sweetie Belle had already proven to him time and time again that she was often the clueless one out of their little bunch. To hear her state what had _not_ been on the other minds of her two friends just seemed... well, amusing.

"Well..." Scootaloo scratched the back of her head with one of her forehooves, looking a bit sheepish. "_I_ was coming along to ask Silas about his special talent and find out where we could get Cutie Marks like his. I didn't know you guys would decide to follow me..."

"_Followed_ you?" Apple Bloom spoke up indignantly, glaring at the pegasus filly. "Ah didn't follow _anyone_, thank ya kindly! Ah came here on mah own!"

As the two friends started squabbling once more, Silas turned a curious eye to Rarity. "So... what exactly are we here for again?" He asked. Truth be told, he hadn't come on his own accord. Following the reward of a black eye, Rarity had persuaded him to come along with her to the library in order to fetch a book. And by "persuaded", he meant giving him a verbal tongue lashing and following it up with a steady stream of whining and complaining that he owed it to her for not showing hospitality and manners to a lady. Never before had he wanted to shove a flaming torch through his ear canal so badly in his life.

"I usually come by Twilight's in order to get a read on historical fashion." Rarity explained, smiling as she walked to and stopped in front of the door. "Modernization has its benefits, but sometimes you just have to delve into the past and rely on the aspects of tradition in order to get the best results."

"_Lady, if you saw how technology advanced the world I live in is, you wouldn't be using the word "modernization"."_

Despite his thoughts, Silas kept his curious disposition. But he kept silent when Rarity raised a hoof and rapped gently on the door. "Twilight!" She called, inadvertently stopping Apple Bloom and Scootaloo from continuing their "argument". " "Twilight? Spike? Anypony home?" After a few seconds of knocking on the door, Rarity lowered her hoof and perked up her ears for a response. She didn't have to wait long, though, as the door quickly opened up to reveal a slightly surprised Twlight Sparkle.

"Rarity?"

She was taken aback to see the sight of Rarity, Silas, and the C.M.C at her door, but she allowed herself to pull back in order to let them in. "Wasn't expecting you to come so early..." She commented, watching Rarity file in first before being followed by her company. "Did another incident happen with your oven?" She ignored the annoyed huff coming from Sweetie Belle.

When Silas came in, she blushed faintly when he stopped to give her a respectful bow of the head before passing by her. Of course, it occurred to her that he was new to the town and only trying to make a good impression. But such a gesture was usually given to those that were considered of a higher social status, such as Princess Celestia or Luna. So it felt rather unfitting to see her be greeted in such a manner.

Rarity's voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she turned her head to see the white unicorn approaching and sitting down in front of one of the bookcases. "I'm sorry, but my parents came to my home earlier than expected. They wanted to drop off Sweetie Belle for the week so that they could go on a vacation of their own." She turned her head over to Twilight Sparkle, and expression of slight concern on her face. "I didn't inconvenience you any, did I?"

"Oh, no, it's no problem!" Twilight reassured her, giving her an emphasizing smile. "Though there _was_ the mess to clean up after the party, it wasn't too much of a big deal and we finished up. In fact..." She looked over her shoulder at the clock overhead. "I think you came in a few minutes after I just opened up. You are the official first customer I have today."

"Yay!" Silas cheered, raising his forehooves in the air in a cheering motion. The motion was meant to be gleefully sarcastic. "Time to throw another party-!"

"NO!"

Twilight was in front of him in an instant, shoving a hoof on Silas's mouth and earning a surprised yelp. Her easy-going demeanor had been replaced by one of alarm. "Don't say that! Pinkie Pie might actually come back here again!" She pleaded, her eyes staring straight into Silas's. Her sudden shift in moods caused him to tense up, and he raised his forehooves in front of him defensively.

"Hey, whoa, I only said that as a joke!" That was the statement he was trying to get out. However, the fact that she still had her hoof on his mouth limited his speech to "Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmmph!"

"I thought you said it wasn't an issue..." Rarity stated, quirking her brows.

"_One_ party from Pinkie Pie is no big deal." Twilight countered, turning her head to give the white unicorn a leer. "One right after the first _is_! Especially when it's one I don't see coming! You know how unpredictable she can get whenever there's a party being mentioned. Not that she's a lot better even when she's outside of a get-together, but still-"

_Nom._

"OW!" She pulled her hoof back when she felt Silas's teeth bite down on it, looking to him with startled surprise. She met an annoyed stare as a response, and she felt her own eyebrows furrow to match it. "You could have just _asked_ instead of biting me."

"Too long." Silas said bluntly, raising a hoof to his mouth and clearing his throat in order to compose a calmer attitude. "Now that really was made as a joke, but if that's the case, then I won't make any more of those kinds of jokes in the future." He smiled a little and relaxed when Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Silas..."

The stallion tilted his head to the side and studied her for a moment as she turned to approach Rarity. Then, he took a look around the library himself. Once again, he was impressed by the architecture and foundation, as well as the simple fact that one could literally make a house out of a tree. Even so, the tree itself seemed to be still alive. He wondered what would've happened if this type of technology had been integrated with his own society.

_It would have been abused to high heaven. What else does humanity do with something that presents a positive effect for them?_

The bleak thought came right after the positive one, hitting him like a ton of bricks.

In the midst of the cheery environment, he allowed himself to forget the one thing that had remained true throughout his whole life. Humans were genuinely ruthless to one another as well as the environment around them. This setting, perfect and cheerful as it was, might as well have spoken to his world "Here I am! Come and strip me down to the bare necessities! Take even those away!" The fact that he had been separated from his wicked birthplace had created a sickness within him larger than what it should have been. The kindness of the atmosphere made him feel guilty; he seemed to be the only one thing such nihilistic thoughts.

But then again, they could be hiding anything...

"Something wrong, Bro?"

Sweetie Belle's voice made him suppress his thoughts for the moment and look towards the younger unicorn sibling, who was giving him a mix of curiosity and concern. However, he only registered her sentence, furrowing his eyebrows. "...why are you calling me that?"

Sweetie Belle smiled, the undertone taking on a knowing factor. He suddenly found keeping his mouth shut would've been a better idea.

"Well..." She started, taking slow steps towards him. Slight nervousness was conveyed by Silas, and he found himself slowly back up against her advance. "Judging from you and how Rarity's been acting towards each other, you're well on your way to getting together and being a couple. So I might as well get used to calling you "bro" now."

Out went the tension, in came the annoyance.

"Look, kid..." He started, one of his eyes twitching as he stared at Sweetie Belle's smug face. "I don't know where exactly you're getting your logic from, but I'm not going to get married to your sister. I've only known her for like, what, two days? You can't seriously say that's enough for some sort of relationship to form!"

"And already you're fighting like a married couple..."

The urge to slam his head against the wall was growing.

"Ugh!" He couldn't hold it in anymore. He let out a frustrated groan, throwing up his forehooves. "_What_ do I need to do in order to convince you that we're not getting together?" He complained, looking almost in a pleading manner towards the now-surprised filly. "You're just a little kid, for crying out loud! You should be focused on the baby steps and still into your "Cooties" phase! Not to mention, where are you figuring this out from?"

That rendered Sweetie Belle into a silence. She frowned, sitting down and tapping one of her forehooves against her chin thoughtfully. "Well..." She began, hesitant of how to start it off. "You and Rarity seem to argue just like Mom and Dad sometimes do. They're short, but both of them always make up when they're done..."

"Sweetie Belle..." His tone expressing sympathy towards her mistaken logic, Silas raised one of his forehooves to place on the top of her head. "Listen, that isn't a sign of love! That's a sign of ideas clashing against one another. It's disagreement! It happens between anyone and everyone! I mean, if you were arguing with your friends, would that mean you automatically have a thing for _them_?"

"What- No!" This made Sweetie Belle recoil as if she had been slapped, alarmed by the question. "Of course not! We're all girls!"

"Exactly. And you see Rarity and her friends argue occasionally, right?"

"Well...yeah, but-"

"And even you and your sister get into a few spats now and then, huh?"

"...yeah?"

"Then you see my point?" Silas ruffled Sweetie Belle's hair a little before pulling his hoof back. "Arguing alone would not tell anything concerning a relationship. You're better off waiting a little longer before you cross into that territory."

"...so..." The revelation made Sweetie Belle deflate, her ears flattening and a sad look crossing her face. Her big green eyes were wavering, and tears were starting to form at their brim. In short, she looked absolutely crushed. "This means I... can't... call you... "big brother"...?"

"_Oh, damn you for being cute."_

Silas's lecturing mood was instantly crushed when she gave him the face, and he felt his heartstrings being tugged at violently. "H-hey, hey, Sweetie, don't cry! C'mon!" He pleaded, bending himself down so that his stomach would be on the ground and he would be looking up at the filly. "Listen, I'm just moving in, and I can't really say if I'm gonna move again considering your mom's words. But I really don't want to start shuffling on the road again if I can avoid it. It'll be plenty of time to get to know each other. Who knows?"

Raising himself up, the stallion gave a gentle nuzzle to Sweetie Belle's cheek, earning a slight giggle from her as she blinked her tears away.

" In time, I just might be tempted to call you a "little sister"."

His smile grew wider when he felt Sweetie Belle jump and give him a hug, her forehooves wrapping around his neck. "Oh, thank you, Silas!" She exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"

"All right, all right, don't choke me now!" After a moment, the stallion pulled away from the filly and motioned towards Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who had been watching and listening to the entire spectacle with curious eyes. "Go on and talk with your pals. I just remembered I've got something to talk to Twilight about myself."

"Sure thing, Bro!"

As Sweetie Belle ran off, Silas couldn't help but chuckle. As blank and oblivious she acted sometimes, the girl was just so adorable. Out of the bunch, she would probably be the one to associate with him the most considering his status. The talk made him feel like an old man giving advice to an eager young daughter before sending her off to her own devices. It wasn't a bad thing, though – it made him feel a bit wiser. If anything, she helped him pushed the bleak and dark thoughts he had to the back of his mind again.

As he turned to approach Twilight and Rarity, Sweetie Belle reached her friends and turned around to look at him. However, it was the curious stares towards her that drew her attention, and she quirked an eyebrow as she looked at them. "What?"

"This ain't gonna turn into another issue like what happened w' Applejack, will it?" Apple Bloom questioned, regarding Sweetie Belle with a slightly suspicious look.

"Yeah, miss "Applejack is my new sister"." Scootaloo snickered, hiding her mouth with a hoof in order to hide her smirk. Her snickers only got worse when she saw Sweetie Belle's cheeks turn red in embarrassment, and soon enough, even Apple Bloom couldn't keep a straight face for long.

"No!" Sweetie Belle blurted, huffing and flattening out her ears momentarily once again. "That time, I was just... mad at Rarity. This time, I'm really hoping for this one! I really hope he stays and gets together with Sis!" Despite Silas's insistence, her eyes were still sparkling with hope that he would be wrong. She was still a child, and despair didn't hold much of a presence in her vocabulary. So it was natural that she would still cross her fingers – if she had any – and hope for the best.

"Yeah..." Scootaloo's snickers died down, and she reached up with a hoof in order to rub her nose while shooting a glare at Silas's back. "Well, I hope he doesn't turn his flank into a weapon again. That really kinda _hurt_!" This earned laughter from her two friends, although she was too busy rubbing her nose in order to react much to it.


	10. Chapter 9: FRAG MONKEY!

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**A/N:** I would like to apologize to you all for making you wait so long just for one chapter. Having to publish across three separate sites as well as edit the chapter to be fit for each one is a bit exhausting for the brain to handle. Not to mention that there are things that keep constantly popping up in demand for attention. Won't go into detail, though, since I'm sure you're not that very interested in it anyway. I'd also like to thank the people that have managed to stick by me, bearing with me on this, and giving me constructive and productive critique.

That being said, I hope this chapter satisfies, as it'll take a bit of a suspenseful mood. Have fun reading! Oh, and I may have to warn you...

This chapter... could get a little bloody.

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><p>"Twilight Sparkle, was it?"<p>

Twilight's ears perked up at the sound of Silas's voice, and she turned herself away from the browsing Rarity in order to face him. "Yes, Silas?" She questioned, putting on a toothy smile and trying to look as competent as possible. She didn't want to give Silas a bad first impression of her, considering that he was still new and had not gotten fully acquainted with Ponyville.

The stallion furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at her, giving off the visage of a stern stare.

"_Oh, no... I did something wrong, didn't I...?"_

The movement caused Twilight to flinch discreetly for a moment, and the fear that she may have done just that picked at her. Although she was maintaining a calm demeanor on the outside, her heart was racing a little more than it normally did on the inside. She had to resist the urge to start pawing at the floor in order to express such anxiety, but somehow managed to hold herself. The polite and respectful gesture that he had given her clearly showed that he held respect for her to some extent, and to have tarnished that only a day after they met-

"I want to know..." Silas said suddenly, his eyes still peering at her. "Do you have anything in the "mythology" genre? I'd like to borrow a book for myself if you don't mind."

That was enough to destroy the growing anxiety within her and replace it with a sudden glee – particularly because of the word "mythology".

"_Really_?" She asked with a sudden enthusiasm, causing Silas to jerk back a little in surprise. Her smile had grown a mile wide, and her eyes were sparkling with happiness. "Of _course_! I have _plenty_ of those kinds of books in here, not to mention collections of them! If you hold on a minute, I'll go fetch something I know you'll like!"

"Uh-"

Before Silas could get a word out of his mouth out, the purple unicorn had raced past him and up the stairs that led to the upper levels of her home. If anything, it looked as if she had simply teleported out, disappearing within a second after ending her sentence with a period. The speed in which she had performed this action rendered him speechless, his jaw hanging open and his eyes dilating. He had met his share of bookworms, but _this_ particular one would probably make the previous ones cry in shame! All it had taken was one mention of a topic and she had changed her mood from calm to downright happiness to the extreme! Even the pink pony, who had already displayed hyperactive energy from their first meeting, would be put to shame. But then again, he probably hadn't seen the full extent of how "sugar-crazed" they or any of the ponies around here could get.

And maybe it would be better for him if he never did.

"That's Twilight for you..." Rarity spoke up, walking over to stand beside him with an amused smile. "She's usually the less energetic of the group, but when it comes to books, she jumps like Pinkie Pie. Hope it's not too much trouble to deal with..." Out of the corner of his eye, he took in the sight of her horn glowing with a light blue aura. A closed book floated in front of her, setting itself down onto the ground for both of them to see. It was a beige color, with the words "The Life and Times of A Fashionista" colored in dark brown and written in a Times New Roman font.

"And that's over a _book_?" Silas said incredulously, turning his head so that she could see his expression. "She just ran up there as if there were a million dollars waiting for her!"

"Dollars, dear?" Rarity asked, confused.

"Well, yeah. Isn't that the currency around here?"

"...no, we use _bits_. I've never heard of "dollars" before."

"_...uh oh."_

Silas's eyes dilated and widened immediately, and he sucked in the cheeks of his mouth reflexively as if he was trying to suck his words back down his throat. He had just realized the fatal mistake that he had just made in his choice of words. Momentarily, he had allowed himself to forget that this wasn't his world, and that the laws there didn't apply here. It was a slip of the tongue, at best – but judging from the way Rarity was staring at him, that little mistake may have revealed much more than he had led them to believe. He could tell that his silence was only turning her confusion into suspicion when she narrowed both of her eyes in the slightest manner.

He had to say something to appease her.

"O-oh! Um... never mind, then, it was just a slip of the tongue! Heheheheh..." He laughed nervously and turned away from her, attempting to hide his mistake. It was a futile effort, for he knew that any move he made now was only going to damn him. The look in her eye told him that much. All he could do was remain silent and hope that the hole that he dug himself in wasn't too deep for him to climb out of. Twilight suddenly coming back with the requested book was a possibility that was becoming more and more appealing to him...

He flinched when Rarity spoke again in a questioning tone.

"Silas, what's the-"

_Ching!_

But her sentence was interrupted by a yelp when Twilight re-appeared before them. Both her and Silas immediately jolted back at her sudden and flashy entrance. However, Silas was quick to turn her attention to her and mentally breathe a huge sigh of relief for the tense silence being broken. He did his best to put a smile on his face and look innocent in order to keep from drawing her unwanted attention as well.

"Sorry for taking so long!" Twilight apologized, smiling sheepishly. Her horn was glowing a bright purple, and it wasn't long before a book with the same aura floated in front of her. It approached Silas, and he sat down on his haunches and extended his forehooves in order to take it. It dropped into his grasp, and he turned it over to look at it thoroughly. It was a black book with the title "Quine's Guide to Mythology" in Times New Roman. If it weren't for the title and the fact that he was now trying to avoid speaking to Rarity, he would've noted it to be like a bible.

"Since I'm not using that one in particular, you can go ahead and borrow it." Twilight said. "It's part of a collection from author Quine McCabal. I own all of them." She emphasized this with a smile, and he could've swore he heard a "squee" when she did so. Though she was carrying herself in a more composed manner, he could still her excitement, and that made him lean back a little. It wasn't out of being creeped out, but rather being surprised.

"Quite the book enthusiast, I see..." He muttered. "You were certainly made to live in a library..."

It was the kindest way to call her a nerd without doing so. However, his statement must have cued Twilight in on the subtle insult. Her cheeks turned pink, and her expression became more embarrassed. "S-sorry... mythology's just one of my favorite subjects, and I happen to know a lot about it, so..."

Silas began to reel himself in again, tilting his head to the side slightly. "A collection of books and a good knowledge of it..." A slow smile crossed his face. "You know... if either of us get the time, perhaps you could tell me more about it. I'm more of a history person myself, but mythology might as well be borderlining that particular subject."

Twilight instantly started beaming again. "Really?" She asked cheerily. "I would _love_ to!" It was clear that she was restraining herself from jumping for joy at the sentence, and Silas had to keep himself from chuckling at the sight. It was amusing to see someone act like this over a simple book. It was only a shame that anyone he knew would not have hesitated to label her a "nerd" or "geek". He could get used to having her around.

"Right, then... I'll see you later, you two. I'll be out for a walk through the town." With that, Silas took the book in his mouth and stood up, and trotted briskly away.

"Wha-?" Rarity was taken aback by Silas's sudden decision to leave, and she could barely jolt out of her shock just in time to see him making his way through the doorway. She raised a forehoof to him in a desperate attempt to get his attention. "Silas-!"

But she was too late. The door slammed behind him, cutting off her words and causing her to heave a heavy groan. She furrowed her eyebrows, gritting her teeth slightly. She was a bit miffed that he had suddenly decided to ignore her and leave without so much as a warning. She had assumed it to be because he may have been from a different land. But that extreme reaction made it clear that something was up.

"Rarity?"

She was gently pulled out of her thoughts by Twilight, who now sported a look of curiosity and concern. "Oh, sorry Twilight..." She apologized, using her horn once again in order to levitate her own personal book. "I meant to ask you something, and I might be asking a little bit too much of you, but..."

"Yes?" Twilight leaned forward a little, giving the white unicorn her full attention.

"Have you ever heard of the term "dollar" before? Silas had mentioned it to me when you were up there."

Twilight fell into silence, her eyes looking away from Rarity thoughtfully. "Hmm..." She tapped a forehoof against her chin, attempting to jar the possible memory of the word and meaning in her head. "Well... honestly, no." She admitted, looking slightly confused. "Why do you ask?"

Rarity frowned. "When I said that bits were the currency in this town, he... he seemed to freak out! After that, he just seemed all too keen on trying to avoid even _looking_ at me! And you just saw how he just ran out of the room. Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

Once again, Twilight fell silent for a moment. "Well, now that you say that..." She muttered, quirking her eyebrows. "That _does_ seem strange. But, considering the things like Pinkie's...well... Pinkie Sense... I don't think it's anything to worry about. Some ponies just act weird and crazy at the tip of a hat. After a while, it's pretty easy to get used to."

"I suppose..." Rarity drew in a breath before sighing again. Her words alone sound assured, but her tone wasn't. She didn't want to press the matter, though. After all, what if it was just an odd quirk that Silas had? There was no point in pushing something forward if it was wrong. But it didn't mean that she was completely in the wrong, either. "I'll just have to bear with it for the time being..." She looked away from the door, levitating the book off of the ground and walking off. "Have a nice day, Twilight!"

"You too, Rarity!"

The three fillies didn't hesitate in following suit after her as she made her exit, with Apple Bloom shutting the door behind her. After they left, Twilight furrowed her eyebrows and turned away from the door, her mind set in thought. "Dollars..." She muttered, walking back up the stairs. "I don't think that kind of currency even exists in Equestria, of all lands... where could that be...?"

* * *

><p>They say that in the world of Equestria, the stars are sentient.<p>

From the release of the infamous Nightmare Moon, that belief spread across the landscape and placed itself into the minds of many. Though Princess Celestia had relieved them of the fear that the villain would never again come to plague their lives, the belief of "living stars" had come to fruition. After all, four of them had been responsible for the release of Nightmare Moon, even against the will of Celestia. That meant that they in particular held a certain amount of power over her – a disturbing revelation, knowing that Celestia was a demi-goddess as well as a simple princess.

Even in the day, ponies were still wary of the stars. Possibilities of another catastrophe as great as the rule of Discord were spoken of. Propaganda of the apocalypse and how to prepare themselves for it spread like wildfire. Some agreed with the notions and some didn't, resulting in heated debates, discussions and arguments. This was prominent in Canterlot, despite the members of nobility doing their best to try and neutralize the hostility and tension. Even Celestia, one of the main negotiators, was starting to lean towards the possibility of another threat as major as Discord, Nightmare Moon, and Queen Chrysalis appearing.

This was not solely a belief.

Or at least it wouldn't be, if the ponies could hear the stars talk.

Yes, the stars, living or not, were capable of speaking to each other. There was no secret alien language, nor was there any non-verbal communication only they could understand. They spoke the common language of English with a fluent, natural ease. They were more than capable of bringing their voices down to the life-forms below them. But they only spoke to each other, keeping their ability to speak away from the knowledge of the lesser beings. Not once did they grace the populace with any for of greeting. They just talked to each other and floated in the distant sky, quietly watching what was going on on the ground.

If one could listen to them... they would not sound like the gods that were commonly associated with in the myths and legends.

"Disciple to Kingpin, come in Kingpin, over."

"Kingpin here. What's the status?"

"Subject Alpha has adapted with the new environment. Entity Three has established contact and is currently monitoring the subject's movements. Behavior patterns are stable, and the subject has begun to interact with the local urbanites. Code Iron Curtain is still in effect, but wavering slightly."

"Who are the disrupting elements?"

"Urbanites named "Twilight Sparkle", "Rarity", and "Rainbow Dash". The latter two of the three are becoming more aggressive, but open confrontation has yet to occur. Urbanite Rainbow Dash may or may not be a potential hostile in the near future. Urbanites named "Applejack", "Fluttershy", "Pinkie Pie", and "Spike" have a low but considerable chance of becoming hostiles in the late future."

"Understood. Keep monitoring the urbanite group for any updates. Switch to secondary view."

"Switching..."

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Connection established."

"Status?"

"Subjects Omega and Theta are starting to awaken in the labyrinth. Hostile confrontation not immediate, but imminent. Possibility of capture and/or termination high. Hostile types consist of moderately armored foot mobiles with close-combat weapons. Status of patrol is neutral."

"Prepare to activate the Ataxia Protocol."

"Roger that. Standing by..."

* * *

><p>"Nnngh..."<p>

Russell Cooper, nineteen years of age, let out a grumpy groan as he felt consciousness swim to his mind's surface. His nerves gained feeling, and he found that he was lying on his stomach. His belly, which was somehow bare, felt grass touching the skin. As his mind awakened little by little, he could feel his arms stretched out in front of him,his legs stretched out behind him, and the sun beaming down on him. In truth, it felt like he had been sleeping on the ground instead of being bound to a gurney and being prepared for death.

Then it hit him.

He _was_ lying on the ground!

"What 'n' hell...?" He groaned, opening his eyes to a half-lidded position and blinking them a few times in order to clear away the haze. As best as he could, he sat himself on his knees. The light air blew on his body, and he shivered a little. "Don't tell me them jack-holes decided ta strip me naked or somethin'. It's bad enough that they decide ta pull out the death needle, but takin' mah clothes is just outright-"

He raised what he thought was his hands in front of his face – and his eyes dilated in horror.

"_**HOLY SHIT-!"**_

He scrambled up onto all four of his hooves, looking at himself with horror. Instead of a human body, he found himself looking at the body of a strong-built pony with a red coat and dusty brown mane-tail set. He could also see wings pressed up and inactive against his sides. On his flanks, he could see what looked like the torso of a stick figure holding a rifle and aiming it at something. As he reached up to feel his head, he could feel the brim of a black Stetson hat – the only form of clothing he had on. Alarm and anger began to well up inside of him as he examined himself. "Okay..." He muttered, his voice slightly shaky and mostly conveying great irritation. "Ahm hopin' that at the very least, this is some sorta sick 'n' twisted joke thought of by those rotten p'lice. It's gotta be, 'cause there's no way t' explain how ah turned to a damn horse-"

He abruptly stopped himself, his ears perking up at the sound of light snoring. He immediately turned his head to the source, balking at the sight.

Another pony was lying in a position akin to a sleeping dog, and from the looks of it, he could easily classify it as a mare. She had a white coat and a blonde mane-tail set, both of them being long and wavy. She also had wings pressed against her side – something that unnerved the Texan only slightly. On her flank was the design of an olive-green book. Despite his shouting, she had not been stirred from her peaceful slumber.

The shocking part wasn't the fact that she was there, or the fact that she had wings – but rather the notion that he knew her as the one that had joined him and Silas in their supposed death.

"C-cassie...?" He spoke out, unable to hide the amazement and apprehension in his voice. His four hooves carried him in a slow, deliberate manner towards the sleeping mare as if he was afraid of waking her. However, she did not stir at all and continued to snore lightly. The content expression on her face made his heart flutter a little, and his heartbeat was starting to increase with every step that he took. He hoped that he was right.

Finally, after half a minute, he stopped and loomed over her form. He raised one of his hooves, took a deep breath, placed the hoof on what would've been the mare's shoulder, and shook her gently. "C'mon, Cassie, wake up. Please tell me it's you 'n' that ahm not alone in this drug-induced dream..."

"H...huh? What-?"

A feminine voice was the response he wanted to hear, and he let out a sigh of relief as she opened her eyes. He took a few steps back, giving her some air and her distance. She raised one of her back legs and tilted her head back, scratching at her head just like a dog would. A tired smile was on her face, and she looked at Russell with glazed-over, half-lidded eyes. Had it not been for his nervousness, he would've chuckled at the comical sight. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and maintained a stern stare at her.

"Shake yer head out, girl." He said firmly, scowling a little and tapping a hoof against the ground in impatience. "Focus 'n' concentrate. The quicker ya see this, the sooner we can find out what in tarnation's goin' on here-"

"**TALKING HORSE!"**

He should've expected her to react that way.

Before he could even react to it, she had sprung up to her hooves and froze in her tracks. Her expression conveyed shock and horror as she looked upon herself. Her mouth started to quiver, and for the next few moments, she had taken to swiveling left and right in order to inspect her new form. With each and every swerve, Russell could tell that she was getting more and more antsy by the second. He had to intervene and calm her down before she freaked out.

"Now Cassie..." He started, raising his forehooves up in a neutralizing manner. "I-"

"**GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!"**

He could not even get a word out before she let out a scream, pulling an about face and running away as fast as she could. Since the area they were in was enclosed in a circle via expertly cut bushes, all she could do was gallop in a frenzied circle and scream at the top of her lungs. Of course, there _were_ exits to the area. However, she seemed to be too frantic to notice even that.

By now, Russell wanted to bang his head against the ground repeatedly. Cassie's screams would be loud enough to attract unwanted attention, and he wasn't sure what kind of people would be drawn here. Would they be normal animals? Animals that spoke like them? Humans? In any case, he had to shut her up now while he still had a sane mind... well, as much of a sane mind as he could maintain while in this situation, anyway.

Without a word, he walked over to stand near the path that Cassie was taking and extended his hoof. It only took a few seconds for the desired effect.

_WHUMPF!_

Cassie promptly tripped on it, falling on her face with the mentioned sound effect. Her screams fell silent, and her body lay on the ground once again. Russell retracted his hoof, one of his eyes twitching. "All right... lemme start this off again _without_ either o' us gettin' all jittery..." He said, trying his best to keep a calm tone. "Cassie. It's me, Russell. I know I don't _look_ it, and I sure as hell don't know _how_ I got this way, but it's me. So stop yer yelpin'. It's makin' mah god-damned ears bleed."

"R...Russell...?" Now that she had regained herself, Cassie gingerly pulled herself up to a sitting position on her haunches and looked over at him with her green eyes. "W...what happened to us...?" Naturally, she was confused, raising her forehooves up and staring at them helplessly. "Why are we... why do we _look _like this...?"

"Like ah said..." Russell grumbled, letting out a heavy sigh and lowering his head. "I got no idea. On top o' that..." He motioned to their surroundings with a nod of his head. "I also got no idea on where we are. One second we were in those death wards and the next minute I find mahself sleepin' on the grass as if it was nothin' but a nightmare. Not to mention that I don' see hide nor hair of York anywhere. But considerin' that he got the same treatment as we did, I wouldn't bat 'n' eyelash if he's stuck like this, too."

Cassie drew in a long breath before exhaling, bringing herself to stand up on all four of her hooves. Still recoiling from the shock of seeing what she was, she shakily took a look at their surroundings. "...well..." She began, her voice a bit hesitant. "Wherever we are, it seems like we ended up in some sort of labyrinth."

"A what?" Russell stared blankly, and that shook her out of her funk just enough for her to roll her eyes at him.

"Glad to see you still reek of the stereotypical Southern boy we all know and love..." She muttered sarcastically, ignoring the momentary glare she got from him in response. "It's basically a maze made from a garden in this particular case. But in ancient times, it was most famous for keeping the creature known as the Minotaur contained. Even its creator could barely escape from it after it was first built." She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But... are these even supposed to exist now?"

Russell shrugged, tilting his head to the side. "Maybe there's someone who still has a taste 'n' the old stuff. Plenty o' people like that still around. And speakin' o' people..." He scowled once again, and his tone started conveying his annoyance. "Ah _was_ gonna go have a look around, but yer screamin' might have just alerted the owners o' this here garden maze. Ah mean, at the very least ah _tried_ ta stop ya from doin' it!"

Cassie's studious expression immediately changed to one of slight alarm, a blush spreading across her cheeks. She had the decency to blush in embarrassment, her head hanging low and a sheepish giggle escaping her lips. "Hehehe... sorry, I guess being a pony didn't exactly cut out for me then..."

Russell snorted. "At the very least, let's hope they don't have secur-"

"_Stop right there, criminal scum!_"

"...oh, screw all kinds 'o' duck."

Immediately, the two spun around to meet a group of stallions that had entered through one of the exits, all of which had gray spears pointed directly at them. All of them were sporting golden, Roman-like armor and bore equally menacing expressions on their faces. They were positioned in a perfect phalanx formation, only without the shields. The clear style of coordination, discipline, and visual threat made it clear that none of them were simply cosplaying. Russell and Cassie warily backed off, slowly stepping backward and prompting the stallions to advance.

"You two!" What they could guess was the leader stepped out ahead of them. Though the only thing different about him was the fact that he was not wearing a helmet, the contrast to his subordinates was drastically wide. While his subordinates had gray coats, his was white, just like Cassie's. He had a blue-light blue color combination for his mane-tail set. His forehead protruded a horn, signaling that he was a unicorn. He glared at the two retreating ponies, his stature quite imposing. "What are you doing here? Residents are not allowed here at this time of day!"

It occurred to both of them that he might not be aware of their predicament.

But it didn't stop Russell from expressing his annoyance from having spears pointed at him.

"Yeah..." He sniffed, standing straight and tall and glaring straight into the guard leader's hawk-eyes. "Ah usually don' deal with snotty punks who point their guns at me 'n' my partner's face like y'all are doin' right now. Kindly kiss off, prissy boy." He snickered to himself when he heard some of the guards letting out angry growls in response.

"How dare you insult Captain Shining Armor, you lowly peasant!" One of them snarled, raising his spear.

"No!" The one called Shining Armor immediately held a hoof out for him to stop, his sharp and commanding tone causing the angry guard to flinch. "Do _not_ act out of line! These are civilians!" He barked, turning his head briefly in order to give him a stern glare. "You only attack when _I_ give the order, understand?"

"Y...yes, sir..." The outspoken guard muttered, lowering his spear down in a gesture of submission.

"...Captain Shining Armor, was it...?" Ignoring the strangeness of such a name, Cassie passed a glare of her own towards Russell before turning back to Shining Armor with a pleading expression. She sat on her haunches, her forehooves raising in a gesture of surrender. "Listen... neither of us know how we got here. We're not from here, and we didn't know that we were trespassing. I really apologize for my friend's behavior... he's just really agitated."

Russell snorted, and Shining Armor's eyes narrowed as he stared at the mare. "Is that so...?"

Cassie nodded in affirmation, putting on a weak smile in an attempt to get on the captain's good side. "Please... just let us leave." She insisted. "We swear we won't trespass again. We weren't doing anything other than just walking around and trying to figure out where we are. All we need are some directions, and we'll be on our merry way-"

"Captain!" One of the guards behind Shining Armor cut her off, an expression of shock on his face as he looked behind them. "The statue of Discord is missing from its pedestal!"

"Hm?" Shining Armor took his stare off of Cassie and to the pedestal behind them – which also caused Russell and Cassie to look behind themselves, as well – and his own expression changed to total shock.

Sure enough, the statue of the draconequus that had been resting on the pedestal had disappeared from its spot. Naturally, Russell and Cassie looked at each other in confusion. However, upon feeling the stern gaze from Shining Armor again, they immediately snapped back to meet his ice-blue orbs. Behind him, all of his guards raised their spears in preparation to throw. But this time, their leader did not bother to stop them.

"Patrol reports indicate no one else came by recently..." Shining Armor stated, his eyes slowly squinting into slits. "You two were the only ones to come by here. I apologize for this, but I'm hereby placing you both under arrest as suspects for the theft and hiding of Discord's statue!" This statement caused both Russell and Cassie's eyes to dilate, with the former more out of anger more than anything else.

"Like hell you are!" Russell snarled, his body tensing up in an aggressive stance. "I don't care if y'all 'r' armed with _pistols_ 'n' _rifles_! Ah'd rather _die_ before allowin' mahself to get captured _twice_!"

"Russell, shut your mouth!" Cassie hissed harshly.

But it was too late. Shining Armor heard every word, and that only made him misinterpret their situation even more. "So you're active fugitives?" He questioned rhetorically. He didn't take his eyes off of them as he spoke to his subordinates. "Then that settles it. We will bring you in, and we have permission to use brute force if you resist!" Any hope of negotiation had been officially destroyed, and both sides knew it. Words would not sate the guards now. It was either give up or die.

So they did the logical choice.

"RUN!" Cassie screamed.

...at least, in their head.

Both stallion and mare pulled a right face and raced towards one of the nearby exits, their hooves trampling furiously in the grass as they attempted to make a break for it. The guard that had spoken out before smirked at the chance to get revenge for the earlier insult, raising his spear high over his head. His eyes sighted out the red-coated stallion as he took the lead, predicted the target's path, and locked on. Then, he hurled the spear with immense speed and force.

But despite his accuracy... his throw had been a bit off-balance. He didn't hit his target.

_THUNK!_

"AIIIIEEEE~!"

Cassie let out a pained yell as the spear connected with one of her wings, the force enough to rip straight through the bone. Agony raced through her body, and she nearly stumbled over due to the sudden sensation. Out of instinct, she had flared her wings up just before the weapon hit her. The result was the tip barely scratching her side and the spear being tossed out of her wing. However, the jerky move also resulted in the wound opening wider. As she ran, droplets of blood spilled onto the ground behind her. The guard that had thrown it cursed under his breath, uncaring for the "innocent".

The sound and sight caused Shining Armor to grimace; he wasn't one to enjoy hurting a female. He was quick to shake off the feeling, turning his attention to his troops. "Follow them!" He ordered. "Pegasi, take to the air in order to intercept them. In this maze, they can't go far, especially with one of them wounded."

"Yes, sir!" The said pegasi of the formation immediately broke off from the group, taking to the air with their spears in their hooves. The subordinates on the ground followed the blood trail, their movements quick and steady as they took off after the suspects. This left Shining Armor on his own, standing in the middle of the once-populated area. He took a grim look back at the spot where the petrified Discord used to be, stared at it for a few moments, and then shook his head.

"Princess Celestia will not be pleased to hear about this..."

With that being said, he moved to follow the blood trail, pumping his legs as fast as he could to catch up with his subordinates.

* * *

><p>"<em>You stupid boy<em>!" Cassie snarled, her eyes nearly shut and tears falling from her eyes as she ran after Russell. Every move made only agitated the wound, increasing her pain as well as strengthening the urge to stop and check on it. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! You just had to open your mouth and make things worse than they were like you always do! Wasn't it enough for you when we were being hunted down the _first time_? Are you seriously enjoying putting all of us at the risk of being hurt and killed?"

"Would ya get off mah back, ya goddamn sow?" Russell shot back, just as angry and frustrated as she was. "Ah was gettin' sick 'n' tired o' hearin' that bastard talk!" As he was yelling, he kept his gaze forward to keep focus on the path ahead of him. But, truth be told, he had absolutely no idea where he was going. Though they had gained a headstart on the guards, he knew that they had the advantage of knowing the labyrinth's layout. Furthermore, he could see some of the guards actually flying overhead, effectively cutting off potential escape from the air. He knew that it was only a matter of time until they were ultimately cornered. Now that he had carelessly ticked them off, he knew death was a high possibility. All he could do was continue to argue with the angry female behind him.

"Well, are you happy?" Cassie snapped. "I have a _huge tunnel_ in me because of what you did! And guess what? I don't have anything to mend it with! Not to mention I have no idea how to mend the body of an _animal_!"

"I'm sorry, all right? Screamin' at me ain't gonna do nothin' other than ruin yer vocal cords! We'll... I don't know, we'll get ya to a hospital _without_ security that knows who we are! Just calm down!"

Though she managed to calm herself a little, Cassie couldn't help but sneer at his retreating back. "Yeah, _if_ we don't get ourselves caught and gutted! Do you even _know_ where you're going?" At this point, she knew that she was probably just complaining. But she was scared, panicked, and had no idea what to do in this new environment. If anything, all of her anger and frustration was justified.

"Sweetheart, if ah knew that much, ah'd be a _lot_ more calmer than what ah am now! Just shuddup, keep followin' me, 'n' hope that ah don't run into a-"

_Screech!_

Abruptly, their path stopped when they found themselves at what they dreaded most.

"...a dead end. God... damn it."

Silence.

Then...

"Brought back into life just to get killed again..." All of Cassie's hope of escape crashed down, and she sank down onto her haunches. Her tone was broken and bitter, and she hung her head. Tears streamed down her face in full force, and she made no attempt to hide them. "Why does this always happen to us...? Who's the sadistic god that decided to pick us as its victims? I...I just want to go home..." It was clear that they wouldn't escape from this place with their lives. Their freedom would be lost forever, and they had just had a taste of it before it had been ripped away from their grasp. It left behind a miserable feeling, and now she wanted nothing more than to get rid of it.

Russell remained silent, his own head hung down in bitterness and anger. Despite not liking the angry way she presented it, Cassie was right. He should have kept his mouth shut, and they could have avoided the threat of death with no problem. But now, they were trapped with no way out. He couldn't say anything to comfort the girl without making the situation worse. He couldn't fight back with a snide retort. Even he knew when to call it quits.

He did the only thing he could do.

Walking over to the sobbing Cassie, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, ignoring the flinch of her body as he did so. The reaction was short-lived, and she was quick to bury her face within his neck to bury her tears. They soaked his fur, but he didn't allow himself to react to it at all. He could hear the footsteps of the guards become louder and louder, yet he didn't even bat his eyelash. He would be resolute, just like before. He wouldn't show his fear to the enemy.

He would embrace death with open arms, just as he did before.

* * *

><p>"Disciple to Kingpin, hostiles have been confirmed and are now engaging subjects Omega and Theta."<p>

"Flip the switch and activate the Ataxia Protocol."

"...are you sure, sir? Once the switch is flipped, there is no turning back. It will remain active for-"

"That's not a suggestion, Disciple. That's an _order_. Flip the switch _now_."

"...yes, sir."

_Click._

* * *

><p>As the pegasi soldiers circled overhead, the ground troops moved in quickly to pin in the two fugitives who still had their backs turned towards them. Their spears were raised and readied in preparation for any counter-attacks made on their person. Any sudden moves would be met by their bodies being impaled by the sharp blades. Though their leader was not around, they were still as efficient as ever in their movements.<p>

The one who had thrown the spear and wounded Cassie stepped forward, his two hind legs moving him while his other two . "You are hereby surrounded, fugitives!" He declared, his voice sharp and threatening. "Surrender now, and we will spare your lives. But if you continue to resist, we _will_ kill you!"

No response. The two did not move, and Cassie's sobbing had suddenly stopped.

Confident that he had gotten his point across, the stallion gestured with one hoof for the squad to move up. Slowly, they advanced to close the gap, with him at the lead. "No resistance? You've finally made the right choice. Now get up!"

Still no movement.

The stallion leader gritted his teeth. Were they still insisting on defying him, even under these circumstances? He was quick to march right up to them, pointing the spear at point-blank range. He had a clear shot of piercing through Russell's or both of their heads if he wanted to.

"I said get-"

_WHUMPF!_

His angry words were suddenly cut off, and he widened his eyes in shock when he found the spear being kicked out of his hooves.

But he had no time to react, and there was nothing he could do...

_CRUNCH!_

Russell's right hook connected with the guard's face, literally caving it inside of the head. Blood ripped out the back of the guard's head, and a sickening crack could be heard by the rest of the squad. His body was thrown back to his friends, earning gasps of shock and horror from all of them. They raised their heads up to look at the two fugitives, who had allowed themselves to finally stand to their feet and turn around. Both of their eyes were in a wide, dilated position, and their color of their irises glowed with a bright intensity. This presented a manic expression, their faces devoid of any logic and sanity they could have had.

"A...a berserker...?" One of them manage to stutter out, his expression contorting to sheer terror at the sight. "T...that's impossible! How could they have-?"

"**KILL THEM!"** Another one of the soldiers roared. **"THEY HAVE TO DIE!"**

That was the cry that caused all of the ground troops to come charging forward, and the first two that came close thrust their spears in their target's direction.

But despite the apparent loss of their own minds, it seemed as if they still knew how to fight.

Russell was quick to leap up in order to avoid the thrust of his own individual enemy. In a move that displayed expert balance and agility, he landed on the staff of the spear with both of his hind legs and crouched his body as the weapon tilted to the ground under his weight. Pulling back a forehoof, he swung it in an uppercut that connected with his guard's chin.

_SPLURCH!_

Not only did it connect, but the force of the attack severed the head from the neck. The dismembered body part was sent flying through the air. As the body started to fall, Russell raised a hind leg up and delivered a front kick to the chest to blow it back. The corpse barreled into guards unfortunate enough to be behind it, knocking them back and tossing them on the ground.

Cassie was being just as ruthless.

Her guard let out a battle cry as he swung the spear in a move to slash her head into from the mouth sideways. She did not move from this attack, continuing to watch him with those insane eyes of hers as he attacked her. Then, at the last moment, she turned her head and opened her mouth to meet the oncoming killing edge...

_SMASH!_

The guard's eyes dilated when Cassie clamped down on the tip... and _shattered_ the steel with her teeth. The pieces fell like shattered fragments of glass, and he was left with only the staff. The display was enough for him to lose his grip on his weapon out of fright. He immediately turned to run, attempting to run to the safety of his comrades. But it had been a fatal mistake for him to do that, for Cassie had caught the staff...

_CRACK!_

With a twist of the staff, Cassie thrust the jagged edge through the back of the guard's head and out the front. As quickly as she had put it in, she ripped it out and let the body collapse unceremoniously to the ground. A toothy grin was on her face as she twirled the bloody staff like a baton, watching as the other guards retreated back a distance. Their spears were still pointed towards her and Russell, but now they were afraid to advance any further after seeing the terrifying demonstration of physical prowess. Even the pegasi guards were fearful of approaching them for fear of getting killed.

It would not help the ground troops escape their fate.

Passing a glance towards each other as well as a toothy grin, Russell and Cassie ran forward at their newfound victims in order to have some more bloody fun.

* * *

><p>Shining Armor was approaching the area, having slowed himself to a calm and steady walk. Though he had allowed himself to fall behind, he had faith in his troops to secure the area and apprehend the two fugitives. They were disciplined, skilled, and highly competent. Such was required of the Royal Guard, as their duty was to protect any potential threats to Princess Celestia. Though, he knew he would have to apologize for the wound that his troops had delivered to Cassie once she was arrested. He wanted to keep things on a neutral level and do his duty, but he didn't feel as if it was right for any prisoner to carry a grudge towards him for doing it. The only thing he would regret after it was all over was informing Celestia of the theft, for he knew she would not be happy.<p>

He raised a hoof to scratch the back of his head, frowning. "Here's to hoping that I don't get scolde-"

_THUNK._

He abruptly snapped out of his thoughts when an object landed right in front of him, rolling and stopping in front of him. "What...?" He muttered, squinting his eyes and peering at it to get a closer look. "What could this possibly be? Did someone just happen to kick a ball and land it in here-"

It was a head.

Shining Armor's eyes dilated, and he immediately sprinted past the decapitated head without further word. As his ears perked up, he could hear the screams of his soldiers as they were getting torn apart. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that the pegasus were diving in to reinforce the area. But from the sounds of things, it didn't seem like they were improving the situation at all. His heart was racing violently within his chest, and his face was riddled with confusion and fear.

"_The Royal Guard... the very protection of Princess Celestia are getting torn apart by two pegasi?"_ He thought to himself. _"No... that story's just a myth. It can't be true! There has to be something other than that explaining what's going on-"_

_WHAM!_

As he turned a corner, he was blindsided by a punch to his jaw that sent him careening into the flora walls of the labyrinth. Pain shot through his skull, and his vision shook violently for a moment. He could feel a few teeth having been knocked out, and as he quickly righted himself, he spit them out. The bloody mouth pieces fell to the ground, the red droplets staining the ground.

Shining Armor found himself staring into bright brown eyes and a mocking sneer.

"Hope yer ready to die for yer country, soldier boy..."


	11. Chapter 10: Beat You Like A Rented Mule

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

* * *

><p>In the midst of the Royal Canterlot Garden Maze, a war zone lay. The once lush and green labyrinth were now painted in a thick, liquid crimson. Pieces of the pony anatomy, bone and flesh, lay scattered across the ground. The sources of these deposits were either unfortunate enough to be in pieces, or lucky enough to survive with the majority intact. On their faces, various expressions of horror, pain, and poker expressions were evident. Each of their experiences were different, but all of them suffered the same, ultimate fate – death.<p>

Their murderer was sitting on one of the bodies, one hindleg shifted over the other, forelegs shifted across the chest, and the head hung down with a dirty-blonde mane overshadowing the face. The white-coated, shivering body was stained in the enemy's blood, which was making the light air that blew within the area even colder than it should have been. But that was only one of the factors that were making her shiver. Underneath the mane was a mixture of exhaustion and shock. Her quivering lips were opened as if she was trying to say something, but went past her throat.

These were the after-effects of what had been mentioned as the "Ataxia Protocol".

Cassie had never allowed herself to fall under the impression that killing and slaughter was enjoyable. It was necessary in the case of a survivalist like herself to take the lives of those that pursued her. But it was never mandatory to actually enjoy the sight of watching someone die, to hear someone express their pain in such loud and agonized screams. But this day, she had broken that ideal under the swift and sudden desire for bloodshed. She had actually enjoyed killing every single one of the soldiers that had challenged her and Russell. The feeling of bones being crushed under her hooves had never been so thrilling and exciting. Even now, as she sat on the corpse, she was fighting the urge to lick the blood off of her face.

The reason was because fear and confusion had overtaken her when the adrenaline-induced state had dissolved.

The reason she was afraid was because of the sudden rush. One moment, she had been fearful that she would be killed off as soon as she had started breathing. Then emotions of anger and the urge to kill overcame and swallowed any trace of fear she had. Her blood had started pumping, every nerve in her body was tingling, and she swore she had been seeing red the entire ordeal. From that point forward, it felt like her body had been ripped from her control and into the hands of her instincts. It felt like as if someone else had been in control... and yet... they weren't.

All she could do was wonder why.

"Nnngh..."

She had to snap out of her thoughts when she felt a throbbing ache in the wing that had been speared earlier. Instinctively, she extended it in order to take a better look... and then stopped.

"_W...wait a minute... I can move my wing now..."_

She blinked a few times in confusion, folding the wing back into its inactive position. It was groaning in response to her movements, but it wasn't as painful as it was before. Upon closer inspection, she could also note that the bleeding had stopped, though what had spilled out left a blotted crimson line across the wing's body. It would be logical for the wing to cause much more pain when moved, calling for weeks to be healed fully. However, the only consequence she got from extending and folding it a few more times was a moderately aching protest, no more. It only served to baffle her even more. What exactly had happened to make the injury heal itself in such a quick time, especially when she had been fighting and risking the worsening of its condition?

Finally, after examining it for a few more moments, Cassie sighed and retracted her wing for the final time. There were far too many questions going on. She would have to answer them later, after she and Russell had escaped this death trap. Even though they had killed this particular group, there would obviously be more on the way. She would have to get Russell so that they could escape now without trouble.

But where was he?

She got that answer in the form of his faint but clearly audible voice.

Or rather, a darker and sadistic version of it.

"Hope yer ready to die for yer country, soldier boy..."

Immediately, she sprung to her hooves and sprinted towards the nearest "wall", hugging it with her chest and stomach while stretching out her forelegs to keep her supported. Slowly, she peeked out of the edge, taking in the sight of Russell and the leader of the group. She couldn't help but be impressed, even as she stared at her friend's back. Naturally, he too was bloodied up and stained with the fluid of his assailants. But he stood tall and defiant, staring straight into the captain's hawk eyes without so much as a flinch. The sight of the two stallions glaring down one another sent a chill down her spine. It reminded her of a Wild West showdown prior to the drawing of pistols.

The first desire was to run to Russell and insist that they pull back. Another was to assist him in bringing down the last element. But in this particular situation, she knew that both scenarios would be instantly rejected. Retreating meant that the captain would live to tell his higher-ups about them and what they did. But a move to aid him, while being a good and logical choice, would hurt Russell. He was a prideful man, and whenever he got in a fight with someone, he wanted to be the one that said he brought them down with his own two hands. All she could do was sit back and watch him do his work. But she would jump in the moment he looked like he wasn't going to win, whether he liked it or not. After all, keeping their lives were top priority.

Shining Armor's words to Russell brought her attention to the situation as a whole. "Of all the things I would've encountered as Captain of the Royal Guard..." He breathed, ignoring the trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. "I never thought I would see berserker pegasi for the first time..."

Russell's eyes narrowed, and he reached up to grasp the black Stetson hat that had somehow remained on his head. "The hell you talkin' about, prissy boy?" He growled, flicking it off with a flick of the "wrist" and letting it float away from him."If yer tryin' ta think of some good words to delay the inevitable, then don't bother wastin' yer breath. Pointin' spears at me got me too riled up, and ah don't plan on stoppin' 'till I've pounded yer lil' face into hot cakes."

Shining Armor's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean to tell me you invoked that state without even _knowing_ it?" He asked incredulously. This shock lasted only for a moment before he shook his head and resumed his glare at his opponent. "It doesn't matter now. I'll find out the answers one way or another, even if I have to use brute force on the both of you!" For emphasis, he raised one of his forehooves in order to undo the locks keeping his chest plate in place. With a few flips and snaps, the heavyweight armor fell to the ground with an audible thud. Considering how easily Russell had torn apart the armor of his guards with only bare hooves, it would only weigh him down.

Such was not the thoughts of Russell, as he was grinning and gave a whistle of approval. "Ya really think y'all tougher than yer body armor?" He commented, his teeth shining. "All right, then..." He bent his legs, his underside hovering low to the ground. His stature made him look like a cat sighting out its prey and ready to pounce. His wings opened up, presenting more of an intimidating appearance to his enemy. He held this stance for a brief and tense moment, never taking his narrowed eyes off of Shining Armor.

Then, with a flap of his wings and a thrust of his legs, he threw himself towards his intended target.

Shining Armor's eyes widened, and before he knew it, the distance between him and Russell had been closed in an instant. He raised himself on his hind legs instinctively, one of his forelegs bending in order to intercept a right hook. However, when the hoof made contact with the leg, a spike of pain shot through it. The strength put behind the attack was enough to knock away Shining Armor's foreleg and make him stagger back a few steps. It was just like trying to block a brick in the same manner!

Seeing the opportunity to press Shining Armor on the defensive, Russell pushed himself forward. A jab, crosses, and upsets... all of this was the start of a vicious assault. He grinned when he saw his opponent forced back, retreating as he came forward. It thrilled him to know that his bare hooves were having this effect, that he was destroying an obstacle by himself. Considering that this was the _leader_ of the group made the fight all the more appealing to him. He was going to enjoy beating this stallion to a bloody pulp.

Luckily for Shining Armor, the assault could be defended against.

As he continued to retreat away from Russell's ferocious attacks, he switched his strategy from direct blocking to parrying. When Russell's punches reached him, he struck the "wrist" of the hoof in order to divert the attack away from his person. Sometimes he would do this, and other times he would simply stick to evasive maneuvers. But it was clear that he could easily hold his own against Russell, even if he was on the defensive at this point. Opposed to Russell's feral excitement, he was steadied in immense concentration, his teeth gritted and his eyes narrowed as he fought off each blow.

During the exchange, Cassie looked at the two fighters with surprise and wonder.

They were both ponies. Yet, they were fighting like humans would. They were moving their legs at angles that she never would have thought to be possible from the likes of an equine. The expressions on their faces – the anger and bloodlust versus the determination and concentration - seemed so eerily human. Was Russell himself even getting bothered by this? Did he even care? Had it slipped past his mind?

"This isn't just some sort of blast from the past..." She whispered to herself, her own face expressing nervousness and anxiety. "If anything, I think we might have turned to some screwed-up dimension! That is... if this whole thing isn't somehow a dream I'm having..."

_THWACK!_

Her ears perked up when she saw Shining Armor finally counter-attack.

Taking advantage of Russell's reliance on pure offense, he swung a connecting punch to the face. He earned the satisfying sound of the blow hitting the jaw and the sight of Russell staggering back in surprise. There was a price - the bottom of his hoof felt like it had smacked itself into concrete instead of flesh. But if he wanted to win, he had to let that problem slide. It was the only thing he could do, if he wanted to keep the barrier around Canterlot up.

Charging forward, he threw a swift uppercut before Russell could recover from the first attack.

_POW!_

Russell let out a screaming growl of aggravation as the vision-jarring strike connected with his chin. Spittle flew out of his mouth and his head was forcefully tilted towards the sky. As he staggered back, he jerked his head downward to see Shining Armor rushing at him again. Though his mouth was etched in a furious snarl, he was actually enjoying the fact that the captain was able to hold his own. It would've been boring if his victory could be secured easily. He was a hunter, and he wanted to enjoy the thrill for as long as possible.

Then Shining Armor threw a cross – and Russell's snarl of excitement turned to a grin of sadistic knowing.

With a raise of a hoof, he caught and grabbed the opposing hoof. With his free hoof, he swung an uppercut of his own.

_SNAP!_

With a single blow, Russell had broken the "elbow" of the trapped "arm", producing an audible bone snap that made Cassie cringe and Shining Armor's pain all the more horrendous.

"NNGH~!"

Shining Armor gritted his teeth, having to violently force down the scream that had welled up within his throat. With a tug, he yanked his limb away from Russell's grip and attempted to walk back in order to gain some distance between him and his enemy. But Russell wasn't too keen on letting his prey escape so easily. Quickly, he chased after the captain, throwing another cross to the face. Although it was parried by the only good forehoof he had...

_WHUMP!_

...it didn't do any good to block the short straight-punch that smashed into the stomach region...

_THWACK!_

...or the follow-up jab to the chest.

With those two blows, all of Shining Armor's fighting energy had been ripped away from his body and all the breath he had was torn from his lungs. His eyes were dilated, and he could barely bring himself to stand up. With a broken foreleg and his body being broken down with every single punch inflicted on him, all he could do was stare into Russell's gleaming eyes as he spread his forelegs out...

_WHAM!_

...and closed them like a Venus fly trap, slamming the sides of his hooves against the sides of his victim's head.

Upon contact, Shining Armor's vision exploded into a mix of flashing lights and stars. He instantly lost control of his motor functions, his hind legs unable to keep his body in a standing position. They buckled underneath him, and he collapsed onto the ground with an unforgiving thud. When his back collided with the grass, his vision blacked out, and for a moment, all he could hear was the sound of his own rapidly beating heart. All he could feel was the violently throbbing pains within his chest, stomach, and head. He could barely make out Russell's jeering words.

"Yer fun..." The stallion stated, lowering himself on all fours and slowly approaching the fallen Shining Armor. A toothy smile was on his face, a bit of his own blood staining his teeth. "No, really, ah mean it... ah don't think ah've had a fist fight like that in quite some time. Ta just feel someone's bones crunchin' under mah bare fists is something ah've rarely had the pleasure o' doin'. So, in a way, prissy boy... you actually helped me out. So it's only proper that ah return the favor..." By this point in time, he had reached Shining Armor, his glowing brown eyes directing themselves on his face. Slowly, he lowered his head to his quarry's ear, his words chilling to the eardrums.

"Don't you dare pass out on me yet. Ah wanna make sure ya get every bit of the reward of me stompin' yer face in."

Then, he lifted his head away from the ear and raised one of his forehooves before hovering it threateningly over the head. All Shining Armor could do was flutter his eyes and grit his teeth slightly, barely staying in the realm of consciousness. This prompted Russel to chuckle in sadistic delight, for he knew he had the captain where he wanted him. The final blow would most likely crush his skull inward and finish him off. It disappointed Russell to know that his fun would end, but time was running short and he would have to stop sooner or later.

He brought the hoof down.

"Russell!"

Cassie's voice was the thing that stopped Shining Armor from suffering a brutal demise.

Russell's ears perked up, his eyes widened, and he immediately jerked away from the fallen stallion. His head snapped towards the mare, who was running towards him with a nervous expression on her face. "Russell, I just heard voices from the other side of the brush!" She exclaimed. "I think there's another group on the way, and I'm _really_ not in the mood to do the same song and dance over again!"

By now – and strangely enough – the glow had faded from Russell's eyes. He let out a derisive snort. "Yer such a lightweight chickadee..." He grumbled. "But whatever ya say." He turned away from Shining Armor and walked towards the spot where his black Stetson had floated, grabbing it and placing it firmly on his head. "How do ya suggest we get outta here? We _still_ donno how the hell this maze works!"

A heavy sigh escaped Cassie's lips. "We fly." She explained, looking over towards the dead end in which they had encountered. "Once we're out of the maze, we take to the sky and hide in the clouds." She turned her eyes up towards the sky, which happened to be moderately cloudy. "Really don't know what will happen after that, but... I'll think of something."

"_Fly_?" Russell repeated, quirking an eyebrow and scowling. "It's not as if we've got wings or anything like-"

He instantly shut up when Cassie showed her side and wing to him, a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

"...you were saying, redneck?"

"...well, y'all definitely got it where it counts in the hindquarters department, ah'll tell ya that much."

_SLAP!_

"_OW_!"

"Shut up and carry me. I can't fly on my own because my wing still hurts."

"Freakin'... all right, all right..."

Rubbing his cheek and grumbling to himself, Russell turned around so that his back would be facing Cassie. She trotted over to him and mounted up, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and her hind legs on either side of his flanks. She took in a deep breath, resting the side of her head on the back of his head. "I'm trusting you to be able to catch me in the event that I fall off..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Russell rolled his eyes, spreading his wings out. "Just make sure you hold on tight and pray that I can fly straight enough..."

_WOOSH!_

Cassie grit her teeth and shut her eyes as Russell shot towards the air, his wings boosting him with a strong stroke of his wings. She buried her face further into his neck in order to keep the wind currents from slapping her. But if Russell noticed it, he certainly wasn't showing it – something she was thankful for, as she had been sure that she would be made fun of for it. As he rose higher and higher, her grip tightened around his neck out of reflex. The feeling of his muscles against her body made her shiver a little, and she realized just how close they were right now. As of this moment, though, she could care less. After what they had been through, it was far too comforting to feel awkward or embarrassed.

"So..." Russell drawled casually, keeping one hand on his hat as he continued to fly. "Where to?"

* * *

><p>"...are you quite sure this is appropriate, sister? Cadance is quite as busy as her husband, after all."<p>

"Relax, Luna. I'm sure that after all the work they've been doing, she'll be more than happy to have a bit of company."

This was the dialogue between the two princesses Luna and Celestia as they walked down the hallway that led to the chambers of princess Cadance. It had been one year since the defeat of Queen Chrysalis, the wedding of Shining Armor and Cadance, and the following honeymoon. After their return to Canterlot, they had settled in quite easily. Their absence, however, built up a lot of work that needed to be tended to. While Shining Armor was monitoring the security of Canterlot, Cadance was stuck dealing with paperwork and letters concerning issues she had to address as one of the heads of state. She _was_ quick to get started in the hopes of finishing quickly...

...but she wasn't new to crashing and completely shutting down in the middle of her work.

When Celestia and Luna stopped at the room Cadance was in, with the elder sister using her magic to push the door open, they became the witnesses to the latter scene.

Cadence had fallen asleep at the desk she was sitting at. She was snoring in a typically loud fashion, her head lying on its side and drool pooling from the side of her mouth. Fortunately, the paper she had been working on had been shoved to the side – a clear indication that she had decided to fall asleep willingly. Her crown that she had worn on her head had fallen to the floor beside her. It was a rather unladylike position to be seen in – something that caused Luna and Celestia to gawk for a moment. Then, they started to giggle in amusement, struggling to keep it to a quiet level as Cadance continued to snore.

"Alas, our fellow princess has fallen victim to the dreaded foe known as boredom!" Luna exclaimed quietly, hiding her mouth behind a hoof. "How ever shall we rescue her from such an ordeal?"

"Hmm, I don't know..." Celestia feigned a thoughtful look, emphasized by the mischievous smirk on her own face. "This seems like a job for the traditional "Royal Canterlot voice", wouldn't you agree?"

Unable to keep the grin from extending a mile wide, Luna quickly and quietly trotted over to Cadance was sleeping. She stopped when she was right beside the pink mare, taking in a deep breath to momentarily compose herself and put on a serious, stern expression. She tilted her head, her mouth inches from her victim's ear.

Then, she took in another in another breath.

"_**HOW DARE YOU SLEEP ON THE JOB?.!"**_

This earned one of two things in response. One of them...

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!"**

...was Cadance's loud scream.

The other was the hilarious sight of her jolting up in the air, landing on the ceiling with all four of her hooves and staying there, somehow hanging on like a cat.

That was all that was needed for Celestia and Luna to break down the dams holding their mirth back. Luna was quick to drop her facade, collapsing to and rolling on the ground in a fit of hysterics. Celestia, while the more composed, was still laughing just as heartily and somewhat uncontrollably as her sister. The collection of sounds eventually caused the upside-down Cadance to convert her expression from scared, to extremely confused... and finally to extremely annoyed.

"Really, you two?" She released the ceiling, using her wings to turn herself right-side up and fly herself down to ground level. She maintained an exasperated glare at the two laughing princesses, her lip stuck out in an angry pout. "You could've given me a heart attack or something!"

"We are sorry, Cadance..." Luna chuckled, finally composing herself and rolling over to stand on all for of her hooves. "But our sister Celestia suggested the idea of rousing you with the Royal Canterlot voice. We are pleased to see that it has been successful."

"...yeah... successful, all right..." Cadance rolled her eyes at Luna before turning to face Celestia, retracting her lip and quirking an eyebrow.

"We came to see how your progress with your work is..." Celestia stated, walking into the room and shutting the door behind her with another glow of her horn. "How goes it?"

Cadance's questioning look changed to one of exasperation. She turned away, letting out a heavy sigh and walking over to her bed. "I'm only halfway finished, and I _still_ have a long ways to go! " She grumbled, hopping onto the bed and folding her legs underneath her. "Sometimes, I wonder how I got to be a princess with all of this work!" She put a hoof on her chin, looking on as her aunt walked over to inspect it.

Despite half of the pile being marked as done, there was still another large half sitting on her desk untouched. It made Celestia wince a little out of sympathy. Sure, they had their duties, but this would be far too much for even _her!_

"Well, why don't you take a break for the moment?" She suggested, looking over to her niece. "Getting stressed out won't help you at all." She directed a glance over to Luna, who was eying Cadance with a smile. "Luna and I were just about to the kitchen for lunch, and seeing as you're not willing to do anything otherwise..."

"_Really_?.!" The frown shot off Cadance's face very quickly, her eagerness to escape her work showing. She leaped off of the bed and was right in a surprised Celestia's face before the latter realized it, wrapping her forelegs around her neck in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the best auntie in the world! My personal servants kept insisting that I had to stay here and not go anywhere until I finished signing, but now-"

Celestia chuckled, gently pulling herself away from Cadance's embrace. "Subjects can get quite overbearing sometimes..." She admitted, walking towards the door once again. "Whether they revere you or scared by you..." She turned her head towards Luna, who was now frowning out of irritation that the memory of the last Nightmare Night caused her. "Right, Luna?"

"Yes... quite overbearing..." The purple alicorn muttered, snorting in slight disdain. "At the very least, Cadance, we are thankful that you have chosen to accompany us." She trotted over to stand alongside her sister, with the mortal alicorn walking right behind her. "Shall we depart?"

"Indeed, we shall..." With that being said, Celestia raised a hoof to gently push the door open again.

_WHAM!_

Or at least, she would have – if the door hadn't pulled itself open by the panicked royal guard on the outside.

The sudden motion caused all three princesses to re-coil and balk at the sight of the guard's expression, his tense stance, and the anxious nature that radiated off of him. Sweat stained his fur, indicating that he had ran here or was suffering from extreme anxiety. When he spoke, he didn't bother to hide his panic or his exhaustion. "Y...your majesties..." He breathed, hanging his head down. "A thousand apologies for the sudden interruption... but there is a matter of great urgency!"

"State your business with haste!" Luna was the first to speak, her eyes narrowing in a stern glare at the stallion.

"It's...it's Captain Shining Armor, ma'am..." The guard paused for a moment, drawing in a breath in order to calm himself and tell the story better. He raised his eyes up to meet Luna's evenly. "He and his patrol were apparently ambushed by hostile forces. By the time my group got there, all of the ones attacked were dead. The captain himself is in very critical condition, currently within the sick bay right now. My stallions are..." He avoided Luna's gaze immediately afterwards, looking as if the next words would be too disgusting to say. "... quite literally... picking up the pieces of the aftermath."

When he raised his head up again, he was greeted with various kinds of shock and disgust, and he knew the implication was clear. It was something to be grateful for – actually saying the fate of the patrol might have been too much for him.

"Upon investigation..." He continued. "We have discovered that the majority of the wounds inflicted, including massive puncture wounds, were hoof-sized and hoof-shaped. Some of the injuries ran cleanly through the body without any sign of repetitive force used. It can be easily assumed that someone with immense physical strength was involved... but if the assailants were ponies, then that would be rendered completely impossible. Under normal circumstances, we would have assumed this to be magic done by a unicorn in an attempt to throw off investigations. However, upon the scene, we found a few red feathers scattered amongst the white ones of the fallen... feathers that could only belong to the likes of a pegasus."

When he paused again, the silence that was left in the air was deafening.

The princesses could guess what conclusion the guard was about to come to. But none of them wanted to openly admit it, as it would be acknowledging the existence of a threat that had existed long before the creation of Equestria. It had not been as chaotic as Discord's later rule of Equestria had been. But the destruction, generally speaking, was just as bad if not worse than the invasion of the changelings. It was what would have been if Chrysalis had been aiming to completely destroy, rather than dominate Canterlot.

The guard gulped, furrowing his eyebrows as nervousness once again grew within him.

"We have reason to believe that this was the work of at least one Destrier pegasus, or berserker, if you will."

"You're certain?" Luna pressed, narrowing her eyes and putting on a slight scowl.

"Very. I would not lie to the likes of my Grand Rulers."

"Take me to Shining Armor immediately! I _must_ see him!"

The exclamation, of course, came from none other than Cadance. She was quick to get in the guard's face as she said this, so that he would see every bit of the urgency in the situation. Her shock had faded away, replaced by a stern, angry gaze of her own. She was making no attempt to hide the anger and worry she had over her beloved being so severely injured. If what the guard said was true, then there was no way Shining Armor would come out of the situation unscathed. What she feared was the severity of his condition. After all, alive could also simply mean on the verge of death...

"O-of course!" Though taken aback by Cadance's actions, the guard was quick to oblige. He turned himself, facing the hallway in which he had come. "If you would, please follow me!" He trotted down the hall quickly, knowing that with her urgency, Cadence would be following straight after him.

Despite the fact that... well, she was... Cadence stopped momentarily to flash an apologetic look towards her fellow princesses. "Sorry, guys!" She said. "I'll swear I'll come back right after I'm done checking on Shining Armor!" Despite the situation, it felt somewhat wrong to just leave the two without warning, even if it was to go check on her husband. So when the two gave her understanding nods, she was quick to be relieved and continue trotting on after the guard.

When she had disappeared out of sight, Luna turned her gaze towards an equally solemn Celestia. "Sister..." She spoke, a bit of confusion expressed in her tone. "If this was indeed the work of a Destrier, then how exactly could it have passed through the barrier around Canterlot? A sign of force would obviously have been detected before it could have even reached the patrols."

"I honestly cannot say..." Celestia let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes and lowering her head a little. "Considering that Shining Armor's spell only blew Chrysalis out of Canterlot instead of destroying her outright, I want to say that she's somehow involved in this. But that would only be guessing..." She raised up again and opened her eyes to a half-lidded position. "If we want any idea of what's truly happening, we'll just have to find out more information."

"And Cadance...?"

"If I know her right, I know that she'll be far ahead of us. Love for someone can go quite a long way..."

With that being said, Celestia gently pushed past Luna and into the hallway, looking over her shoulder at the younger sister. The encouraging smile returned to her face. "C'mon. Cadance said she would join us after she was done, right?"


	12. Chapter 11: More Dakka, I Mean, Drama!

**INTRODUCE A LITTLE ANARCHY**

**A/N:** Sorry about the gap in updates again! This time, Hellsing was at fault.

* * *

><p>"How're ya holdin' up back there?"<p>

"My wing still hurts... but I'll be okay. You?"

Russell opened his mouth, working out his lower jaw for a moment before closing it. "Well, ahm still in one piece. Somehow mah jaws're still flappin', despite the fact that ah _should've_ had it dislocated by that uppercut."

Cassie put on a mock pout, letting out a huff. "Oh, darn. I was just _hoping_ you would've gotten a broken jaw. It would've been good punishment for letting your trap run longer than what was necessary." She let out a yelp of surprise when Russell bucked a little, making her body bounce a little before settling back down on his back.

"Don't make me play "ride the bull" with you, chickadee." The stallion snorted. "Ah may be a bit winded from the scuffle ah just had, and you may have a broken wing. But that ain't gonna stop me from shakin' you up a lil' if I wanted to." As he felt her nuzzle the back of his head, he reached up with one of his forehooves to tilt his hat forward a little to keep the brim from poking at her. The movement sent a slight ache within that particular leg – a hint of just how tired he really was. Even breathing in the air that blew at his fur didn't help him out very much. Cassie's front legs wrapped around his neck in such a comfortable manner made him all the more envious of where she was.

"Sure..." The mare rolled her eyes, tightening her hold just enough to cause Russell to wince in discomfort. "Give me a reason to accidentally choke the life out of you. I'm sure even you aren't that stupid."

"Ahm pretty sure a girlie like you don't have what it takes to even press mah windpipe to the back of mah throat-"

Cassie abruptly tightened her hold, eliciting a sharp gag from him and nearly caused him to reel back. It was enough to make him take back his statement.

"Ey, ey! What the hell're you doin'?.! I'm still flyin' here, you want us to fall?.!"

He earned a light scoff in response, but the legs around his neck loosened their hold, and he could breathe easy again. He let out a heavy sigh, taking a look down at the world below them. From the trees to the man-made constructs to the moving individuals, everything seemed so small. It made him wonder why he couldn't simply just stay up here and keep flying. Of course, that could be amounted to his exhaustion as well as the burden he was bearing on his back. He couldn't carry Cassie around forever, and he certainly couldn't keep flying forever. But there was just no place to rest. After all, he had no idea how quickly the news about them would spread.

It was here that his gaze fell upon a rather large cloud that was a few yards away from his position.

"All right, Cassie. This is where we make a pit stop."

"I don't have to go-"

Cassie's protest was interrupted by another light buck from Russell, causing her to emit another yelp. "Not what ah mean, ya git!" He growled, nodding over towards the cloud. "Ahm not gonna last much longer if ah keep flyin' aimlessly like a moron. So we're gonna go take a rest over on that comfy-lookin' cloud over there."

"...cloud?" Cassie asked skeptically. "Really, Russell? How exactly are we gonna rest on such a "comfy-looking" cloud? It's nothing but visible _gas_-" However, she immediately stopped herself once she remembered the nature of their situation. "Y...you know what? I take that back. Considering that there are unicorns, pegasi, and the fact that we're supposed to be _dead_, I don't think anything will surprise me anymore. Let's go stop at the cloud!"

With an amused grin, Russell flew the remaining distance needed to make it to the cloud before slowing down, hovering over it for a moment before gingerly placing his hooves on where he assumed to be the top.

In truth, he had been expecting his theory to be completely wrong and that he would sink through the cloud entirely. So when he felt all four of his hooves settle down onto a soft and solid surface, he was certainly surprised. He blinked for a few moments, tapping at the cloud with a wary hoof just to see if it would suddenly collapse. All the action did was kick up a few wasps of its material in the air. The cloud was indeed stable.

He was so enthralled at this fact that he didn't notice Cassie slide off of his back until he heard her voice again.

"Well, what do ya know? Yet another illogical fact in this pretend world..." She muttered, taking a few steps away from him in order to take a closer look. The cloud's size could be compared to a small field and was big enough for the two to frolic about as much as they pleased. As the mare lay on her stomach, she found the soft quality of the cotton-like structure much more comfortable than she would've assumed. Without a moment's pause, she rolled over onto her back and sighed, allowing herself to soak in the comfort of the puffy material on her back and the sun beaming down on her. "At the very least, this one is something I can't complain about."

"You and me both, sister..." Russell agreed, walking up to her. Moving himself so that he was laying on his back, he rested the back of his head against Cassie's stomach. After sliding his Stetson down to cover his eyes, he folded his forehooves behind his back and crossed one hind leg over the other. "Though, ah gotta say..." He sniffed a little. "Ah could do without the smell o' blood, though."

"Oh, shut up." Cassie huffed, folding her front legs across her chest. "You reek of it worse than I do!"

"True, true..."

A silence swept over them, broken only by the chirps of the birds flying past them. Then...

"...what did it feel like?" Cassie asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"When we were fighting those guards... I couldn't help but notice the fact that your eyes were glowing. Normally, I would've assumed you were just as angry as I was... but... well..." She found herself stumbling over her words, nervousness clear. "Considering that we were literally punching their heads off... and... back at the beginning of it all, when all of that rage just suddenly popped up in my head... I don't think-"

Fortunately, Russell cut her off before she could fear that she was sounding stupid. "I know one thing. None o' that was normal."

"You're sure about that...?"

"Yup. Unless ah suddenly got diagnosed as bipolar, there's no way we could've switched from hopeless to ax crazy in just a few seconds. And there's certainly no way in _hell_ that either one o' us would be able to punch someone's head clean off if this was somethin' normal."

"...you seem awfully calm about this."

Russell snorted. "What? Y'all expect me to panic o'er it? It may not have been normal, but it got us outta there with the breaths still in our bodies. But to answer yer question..." He drew in a deep breath, pausing for a moment in order to collect his thoughts. "What I felt durin' that little phase was... well, it was as if mah body were actin' on its own. Ah mean, ah could still think, ah could still speak, ah could still _feel_ myself... but it was as if all o' me had been put under the control o' someone else."

"Just like I felt..." Cassie's expression as well as her tone expressed mild apprehension. "But... for me, it was like any thoughts that I got were pushed to the back of my head... other than the desire to kill. I couldn't think of anything else..." She moved her folded front legs moved to hug herself, feeling a sudden chill wash over her despite the warmth of the sun. Now that she had said it out loud, it seemed even more wrong and unnatural than what she had thought it to be... maybe even more than what it probably was. "I...I don't want that to happen again..."

"...there's a million things that we didn't want to happen. But did our wants stop any of it?"

The nihilistic and bitter change of tone was jarring, nearly causing Cassie to jolt up in shock, her heart skipping a beat. She looked to Russell, but he had not moved at all from his position. Under the brim of his heat, she could see the eye closest to her regard her with a dead yet intense gaze. "None o' us wanted the lives we got. None o' us wanted to be regarded as cutthroat criminals without a cause. None o' us wanted to _die. _But that was the result we got, damn it. No one gave a damn about us or what we wanted." With each and every word spoken, his malice was becoming clear little by little, and Cassie found herself becoming scared by the minute.

"Russell, what's wrong with you-"

In an instant, Russell had leaped up from his position, and before Cassie knew it, she found the pressure of his body on hers. She let out a gasp as the wind was partially knocked out of her body, recoiling when he slammed his forehooves in the areas beside her head. Her heart was pounding, and she was rendered completely speechless when he lowered his forehead, his teeth bared in a feral and aggressive manner.

"Maybe you didn't wanna be stuck in the body of a pony...maybe you didn't want to be alive instead o' dead. Maybe you didn't want to get speared in the wing by that soldier! But it _happened_! And you know somethin' else? _It's gonna happen again_! So how about you _shut up and get over yourself_?"

"I-I'm sorry, Russell...! I...I just...!"

The fangs were hidden and the glare was whisked away as quickly as they had come the moment Russell saw Cassie's face. Her face was turned away, her eyes were shut, and tears spilling out of the lids. He could feel her heart beating against both of their chests with such ferocity, as if it were trying to rip away from her. After her statement, she was too shaken up to say anymore and had taken to quietly sobbing. All in all, she was reacting as if he was going to strike her. That was enough to force his anger at her back and suppress it once more.

This time, the silence lasted longer. Slowly, Cassie gained the courage to raise her tear-stained face to point to Russell's, her eyes slowly opening to meet his. Instead of the fury that had been present a moment ago, she saw nothing but weary regretfulness. This gave her the courage to speak up again in an attempt to defend herself.

"I'm...I'm scared, Russell..." She said pleadingly. "How am I supposed to get over something like this? It's so unreal, so imaginable, and so... surreal! We don't even know if we're just repeating history with what we just did! And what... what about Silas? What happened to him? Where is _he_, in all this? There are just too many questions swirling around in my head right now, all right? I don't understand anything around here and that... is making me afraid."

"...yeah..."

Slowly, the stallion got off of her and slid to one side of her, laying on his side and turning himself to face her. "Me, too, Cass..." He said quietly. "Now lay on yer side and face away from me."

"Huh?"

"We might as well get some rest while we still can. We're probably gonna have a long journey ahead o' us if we wanna find at least some ground to stand on in this upside-down world." A small smile crossed his face, and a chuckle escaped his lips. "Who knows? Maybe this is some screwed-up dream and we're all gonna wake up like nothin' happened." It was enough to convey that the anger had completely dissipated, allowing Cassie to give a weak chuckle of her own.

"Don't get my hopes up, Russell. I'm supposed to be the thinker out of the three of us, remember?"

"Right... and even if it isn't, we'll make sure to find ol' York before everything's all over and done with."

Slowly, Cassie allowed herself to do as she was told, shifting herself on her side and facing away from him. Russell moved forward, wrapping his front legs around her waist and bringing her closer to him. A shiver ran down her spine as he buried her face within her neck, and she found herself blushing slightly. Thankfully, the stallion didn't seem to notice any of it. Otherwise, she was sure he would've never let her hear the end of it.

As the two of them closed their eyes, she heard him whisper one last line.

"In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti."

And she whispered back.

"Amen."

The two of them fell fast asleep, the exhaustion finally taking over their bodies.

* * *

><p>Within the town of Ponyville, Silas found himself sitting in the very spot where he started – that bench.<p>

He was laying on his stomach, his hooves carrying his newly borrowed book. He stared at it with a distant gaze, concentrating on the book and its contents. But the distance of his gaze showed that his mind wasn't entirely on what he was reading. Sometimes, it would pay attention to the other ponies walking around him. Sometimes, it would be distracted by the cool breeze that occasionally blew through the area and the birds flying overhead. But these were just minor distractions, as far as he was concerned. What overtook both of these inconveniences was the storm that consisted of his own history swirling around in his head.

Occasionally, he would flip to a different page and study it for a moment in the brief moments that it had his attention. He would skim through it, analyze the important parts, realize that it wasn't something that added up with his current situation, and then drift back into his head some more. It was a pattern of his mind drifting in and out of awareness – something it tended to do once it was relaxed enough. But upon repetitive execution, all of this began to merge into one another bit by bit, making it harder for him to keep them separate from each other...

A sharp pain attacked his hoof when he turned the next page, causing him to wince and hiss a little. He raised the affected hoof in order to look at the underside.

A paper cut. It went straight down the middle, with the blood running down and dripping on the bench. He let out a low, aggravated sigh as he looked at it for a moment. He didn't care to bring any bandages with him, for he didn't think he would've had to deal with something as minor as a paper-cut. He certainly wasn't going back to the hospital just to ask for something as stupid as a band-aid, and even then, there was the fact of the earlier "incident" that he was not eager to repeat. But still, he couldn't let himself just bleed out like what he was doing.

Raising the hoof up to his face, he put his mouth around it.

Once the fluid hit his taste buds, however, he instantly stopped all movement, and his heart almost stopped beating.

Warm.

Salty.

Iron.

Bittersweet.

Suddenly, he was back at his home prior to its burning. No longer was he in the body of a pony sitting on a bench, but rather the body of his twelve-year-old self sitting on the back of his bound-and-gagged father. He could see himself with the jagged-edge knife in hand, using its teeth to tear through the throat of his screaming victim. He could feel himself smiling as he completed the decapitation, letting the head fall to the floor and roll unceremoniously away. But most of all, he could feel the blood staining his hands with its crimson color and its fleeting warmth. But it hadn't been enough. It was never enough.

The price could never be paid with the blood of two victims.

He could not be satisfied with this simple paper cut. He had to have more.

His teeth ground down on the cut, and he ignored the sharp ache that went through his foreleg. This caused the wound to open up more, and a bit more of his own blood spilled out. With his tongue, he swept the entire base of his hoof, lapping up every single drop before it could hit the bench. The warmth that spilled down his tongue, the warmth of his breath hitting the underside, and the sharp pains he felt every time the tip agitated the cut sent shivers down his spine. It was simply delicious.

"_...okay, that's just gross. Even I wouldn't dare to do that, _especially _in _public_._"

The slightly appalled and disgusted voice of his employer caused him to stop in his tracks out of shock. He held the liquid that had built up within his mouth in his cheek for a few seconds. However, once realization set in, his surprise was quick to change to irritation. He leaned his head over the bench, spitting out the blood onto the grass behind him. He remained silent for a moment, listening as the voice in his head continued its rant.

"_The moment I turn back around, I find you making out with your own hoof. I mean, I may be a bad guy myself, but at least I hold some decency! Don't you know you could get diseases from doing that kind of stuff? I mean, we may not have had the best of histories towards each other, but trying to get out of this by killing yourself with a disease is _certainly_ not a way to go. If you really want to, at least go jump off a cliff or something. Far less painful and disturbing to look at..._"

He was making it clear that he didn't really care. So Silas decided to interrupt him.

"_What... do you want_?" He sent the blunt question back to the telepathic messenger, resting his cheek on his affected hoof. Thanks to his actions, the bleeding had stopped, and the only thing bothering him was the ache. But that was something that he could easily ignore, especially in the face of his biggest annoyances."_I thought you said that you would be leaving me alone. You know... as in... be _gone_?_"

"_Of course!_" For some reason, the voice sounded impressed that he remembered what had been said in the hospital. "_But I _also_ said that I would be checking up on you from time to time. After all, I still need you for the plans I have in mind. So it would be highly appreciated if you _didn't_ try and take your own life, when there's still so much left to explain._"

"_Like you're going to tell me everything, when all you've been saying to me was that you weren't going to tell me anything. That's a pretty good reason to assume you're going to leave me in the dark to the very end._"

"_Oh? Well, if I explained everything at once, it wouldn't be as fun and you wouldn't learn anything from your experience... which leads me to the reason I'm here. I'd like you to turn to the second red page of your little book._"

It was here that Silas turned his eyes to the book in full interest. Now that he had noticed it, there were two red pages in the book judging from the brims. His eyebrows furrowed quizzically – a sign that the voice was quick to take as a nonverbal question. The answer was delivered in a dismissive tone, clearly not finding them important.

"_My old friend Twilight Sparkle colored the pages of the most recent mythological events for reference and remembrance. As you can see, these happenings are rare. You can read up on the rest of those later."_

So Silas flipped over to said page, his eyes falling over to the picture that was shown in the right-hand color.

The picture was of a stained glass window that looked as if it had come from a church. The background consisted of a mass of swirling colors representing different things such as the sky, sun, and the earth. But what the stallion was paying attention to was the three individuals in the center. Two of them were alicorns, one white and one black. Their positions indicated that they were circling the third individual, who could be best described as a snake-like figure with claws. When Silas had analyzed it fully, the voice started back up again.

"_See that handsome devil dead center? That, Mr. York, would just so happen to be me. I was and still am known as Discord, the spirit of chaos and disharmony! At that time period, I was the cream of the crop, the king of the world, and the ruler of all existence! Everyone and everything below me either cowered or fled into their faux shelters in an attempt to protect themselves from me. But that didn't stop me from turning everything topsy-turvy, no siree! As a matter of fact, there was no one that opposed my rule, no one who dared to defy me. They knew I was far too powerful to be subdued by the likes of them!"_

If it was something that Silas hated, it was narcissism and pride over the dominance of others – and this stranger was expressing that in full-force.

He grit his teeth slightly, feeling his heart race a little. But he managed to keep control of his tone. "_I see... so, in other words, you're pretty much a tyrant. I should've known that, considering how much fun you're having manipulating me to your whim-_"

"_Oh, no no no no no, you've got it wrong, dear boy!_" The voice abruptly cut him off, albeit sounding amused by his challenge. "_You see, my rule was not intended. In fact, that, along with the populace cowering, was merely a side effect. In truth, the amount of chaos I unleashed among the world was the way that I preferred to express my freedom. Before I came to play, everything was dull, everypony was living normal lives, and the days just dragged by._" Its words were enough to make the anger fade away, and it knew that it had Silas where he wanted. The final sentence drove the nail in.

"_Expressing freedom is something you should approve of. After all, that's what you were doing before I met you, wasn't it?"_

It was a statement that froze Silas from the inside out.

Expressing freedom. Showing the world what resulted from a controlled and manipulated society. Unleashing the pent-up fury that had built up from the years of abuse that he suffered from his parents and his false friends. All of these were motives six-year-long rampage that he had started in Texas. It came in the form of fire-bombing houses, major destruction of property, and the slaughter of those who had dared to get in his way. He could almost feel the handles of the twin machetes he had used when ambushing and killing hapless cops who had came too close to finding them out. It was a thrill that was made more satisfying when coupled with the knowledge that they had deserved it.

But still, did it justify what Discord had claimed to do?

"_Th...all of the ones I killed deserved to die!_"

"_And the ones I dealt with didn't? Don't bark before you know everything, boy._" The voice chided coolly.

"_What could they have possibly done to you that was so bad, oh spirit of chaos and disharmony?_" Silas shot back.

"_Can you say "imprisonment in stone for a thousand years"?_"

The voice silenced Silas immediately, and the voice took that as a sign to continue.

"_All I really did was stir things up a little, make everypony's lives more interesting. But the alicorn princesses, Celestia and Luna, didn't like that. They liked their boring and repetitive immortal life so much that they decided to imprison me into a stone for a thousand years. A thousand years, being able to know the world but not be able to interact with it at all! Fortunately, the only thing negative that happened as a result is me getting extremely bored. Of course, that only brings up the "What ifs" in the case of someone with a worse mentality..."_

Then...

"_One can only wonder if the leading monarchy dealt with opposition in the same manner..._"

One of Silas's hooves slammed onto the wooden bench with a resounding smack, earning a few but momentary glances in his direction. But the blood-boiling anger in his system would not let him notice. His teeth was bared, and his eyes exhibited a livid visage. The deep breaths he took was not enough to soothe the emotions raging inside of him. From where he stood now, Discord's stance was completely justified. What the princesses did was inexcusable and unforgivable, but the possibility that they had done the same with others? No one deserved to suffer such a fate.

"_And how long was their reign...?_" He asked, the rage seeping through every word.

One could hear the smile in Discord's voice.

"_A little bit over a thousand years, my boy._"

"..._what do you want me to do?_"

"_What you've done best. The deaths of the so-called goddesses of Equestria will throw the world once __again into chaos and anarchy. I would do it myself, but that would be far too obvious – hence the reason I have called you here. You are the only one capable of getting it done... but be forewarned: though their powers have transferred to a group of others, they will still be a challenge to take down. Don't worry, though... you'll be able to in due time."_

"_And who are these_ _"others"_?"

"_The wielders of the Elements of Harmony, a.k.a., the six ponies you first met."_

Silas's eyes narrowed into contemplating slits, and he found himself indirectly staring at the open book again. On one hand, this was a relief for him. He had been worrying about trying to gain their trust while keeping them in the dark at the same time, but now those efforts might have well been moot considering they would be his enemies in the near future. It was no longer a mandatory thing. He could reveal his true colors to them without consequence of betraying any of his emotions.

But on the other hand... that would possibly be devastating for the yellow pegasus known as Fluttershy.

"_Ey, York. Why so serious?_" Discord quipped.

"_Don't make me stab you in the face._" Silas's eye twitched once. "_If we ever actually meet face-to-face, that is._"

"_Oh, all right, all right, such a kill-joy. But really now. What's there to think about? Obviously, you're not that close with any one of them, so I doubt you can consider them friends... despite what _they_ think about _you. _So what could possibly be on your mind, my dear boy_?"

"_It's... Fluttershy._" Silas physically breathed a heavy sigh as he mentally spoke the words."_I know we've only just met each other, but... in all honesty, I don't think I could ever raise a blade to someone like her. She's too kindhearted and gentle. I don't think she holds a bone of malice of hatred in her entire body! It doesn't matter even if she's another heathen in the bunch of 'em."_

"_Oh, so you're taking up a soft spot for the nature girl, huh?_" Discord said teasingly, before taking on a more thoughtful tone. "_Yes, that does seem like a bit of a problem for you. But when the time comes, she most likely will stick with her friends. In that case, what will you do? What will you allow yourself to do when she points _her _blade at _you_?_"

Silence. Silas lowered his head a little, his slightly unruly black hair overshadowing his eyes and his ears flopping down. There was no avoiding that scenario, if what Discord said was true. But it didn't make the decision any less harder to make. He really didn't want to make an enemy out of the pure-hearted. But he could only go one way if he wanted to accomplish this goal. He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself for a moment before answering.

"_What else have I been good at doing?_"

"_Cold and ruthless, mister York... just the way I ordered you."_

With a movement of the hoof, the book was shut. _"How should I go about this?_"

"_Well, first off, I want you to head to Cloudsdale tomorrow. There will be two rewarding surprises __waiting for you. The first one comes within a few days of when you actually settle down. The next surprise will come afterwards when I tell you the location of where it's located._"

"_...and the reason you won't tell be the location now is...?_"

"_That would be boring and ruin the point of annoying you."_

"_...for someone I'm apparently working with now, you sure are easy to hate."_

"_Thank you kindly, dear boy._"

With an annoyed sigh, Silas picked the book up by its spine with his teeth before getting off of the bench. "_Well, I guess there's only one thing to do. You wouldn't mind if I brought someone with me, would you? It's not my favorite thing to be stuck on my own with a voice constantly in my head."_

"_You're going to bring someone with you? Who exactly would you-_" Discord's confused tone disappeared once he realized what Silas was getting at. "_Wait a minute, you're not serious, are you? You do realize that's just going to make your personal problem even worse than it is, don't you?_"

"_Be that as it may... she was the first one to step up and actually show worry about me, despite me being a complete stranger. I consider this a return of the favor._"

Discord sighed in disappointment. "_Oh, dear. Should I get divorce papers for you and your hoof?_"

"_What are you t-... screw off. Just go die in a fire._"

Silas would never get the snickers out of his head for a long time, even as his threat was registered.

* * *

><p>"...I've heard of being obsessed with money, but this is just ridiculous, Twi."<p>

"I'm serious, Spike! This is something that we've never even _heard_ of before! I've checked very single book in here, but I just can't see anything even closely related to the word "dollar" before!"

"Maybe it's just another word for "bits"?"

"It can't be. No one says the word "dollar", even if it was some sort of slur!"

Spike let out a groaning sigh, slapping a clawed palm to his face as he watched his friend skim through yet another book before haphazardly throwing it on the already huge pile. "C'mon, Twilight..." He complained, trying to be the voice of reason and soothe her nerves. "This is the third time you've gotten yourself worked up over something so simple! Don't you think that just because someone used a word you never heard of before suddenly make it something to stress about?"

He let out a yelp when Twilight spun her head to give him an angry glare. "Yes!" She said heatedly. "The first time, yes, I _was_ worked up over nothing. The second time, however, was the time I learned my lesson and that there actually _was_ something wrong! Whatever this is, it can mean something bad as much as it can mean something good! I have to know!"

It was clear that there was no reasoning with the unicorn. So as Twilight turned her attention back to her frantic searching, Spike decided to offer her a simple solution. "Why don't you just ask Princess Celestia? She's got universal knowledge of Equestria. She's got to know what that word means if it even exists!"

Abruptly, Twilight stopped herself, freezing in her tracks. From the looks of her shocked face, the idea had not even come close to spawning within her head. With everything she thought of, why had she carelessly threw away the thought of consulting the princess herself? She blushed out of embarrassment, slapping a hoof to her face. "Spike, I'm very, _very_ glad you're my assistant."

Spike grinned, a sheet of paper and a quill already in hand. "I know."

After giving a weak smile back to him, Twilight straightened up and cleared her throat to begin. "Dear Princess Celestia," She said, prompting Spike to start writing out the words on the paper. "There is a recent word that hasn't been recorded in any of the archives within my home and yet spoken by a pony that just stepped into town. After excavating my library fully, I have found no record of the term. It may sound like a simple question, but I am worried that it might mean something more than what it is on the surface. The term is "dollar". Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

With the finishing statement, Spike rolled up the paper, took in a deep breath, and blew out the green fire that would teleport the message straight to Celestia. Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a heavy burden lift off of her shoulders. "Now, with this, we'll definitely know what it means."

"I'm gonna laugh if it's something stupid..." Spike chuckled, grinning widely when he received a glare in response. "What? It'll just prove you were getting worried over nothing. C'mon, even you gotta laugh at tha-"

He abruptly cut himself off when he felt the familiar rumble in his belly, and within a burp of fire, the message appeared before the two. Twilight's magic caught it and levitated the paper towards her, its user having a pleased look on her face. "Well, that was surprisingly fast!" She exclaimed, unraveling the message. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, I applaud you for your impeccable timing and this particular notification. Unfortunately, I..." The pleased look immediately faltered when she continued to read the second. "Have no idea what the word "dollar" means, and I am pretty sure that such a term does not even exist. I am unsure, however, as to where the newly arrived pony got the term from."

"...is this a good time to start freaking out?" Spike asked, suddenly feeling a bit apprehensive himself.

"But the reason why I say your timing is impeccable is because of a decision to inform you about what has happened here in Canterlot..." The more Twilight read, the more the sense of dread started to grow. But it wasn't focused on the word "dollar" anymore. "Today, there has been a massacre of a group of Royal Guards patrolling the garden. I regret to inform you that-"

That was where her blood ran cold and her heart almost stopped beating. She dropped the letter, staggering back and placing a hoof over her mouth. "O...oh, no...!"

"W-what?" Now Spike was more than panicked. He rushed over to the fallen letter, picking it up and quickly skimming to the part where Twilight had abruptly cut herself off at. But when he finished reading, his face turned pale and he too dropped the letter on the floor. "No way...Shining Armor's-?"

* * *

><p>"-fallen into a coma, courtesy of the Destrier's wrath."<p>

The doctor was speaking to a sullen Cadance about the condition of the unconscious patient that was laying beside him. A variety of machines and tubes were hooked up to the said patient, mostly to regulate his health and check his status. The most prominent of them was the steady beeping of the pulse monitor – one of the most irritating sounds to the princess's ears at that given moment. But she said nothing, allowing for the doctor to continue speaking.

"The reason for this was severe head trauma due to concussive blows. He has also suffered minor damage to the chest cavity as well as the majority of his ribs being broken. These injuries can be treated in time. However, efforts to awaken him have proven to be futile. We can do nothing but hope that he awakens."

"...and how long will that be?"

"That is uncertain. Chances are, your Majesty, that he may never wake up again."

Now, the steady beeps of the pulse monitor reigned dominant. With each and every beat, Cadance's heart clenched inward on itself more and more. But her outer self betrayed nothing for the sake of her pride. She met the doctor's solemn gaze. "...if you are able, leave us." She said quietly. "I would like to be with my husband in solitude." There was little authority in her voice, but the urgency was as clear as day.

"Yes, my Lady." With a quick head bow, the doctor trotted past the princess and exited the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Cadance turned her attention to Shining Armor, taking the few steps needed to be right by his bedside. She reached up and placed a trembling hoof on one of his own. She drew in a deep breath, shutting her eyes tightly in an attempt to keep herself composed. But knowing that her touch could not reach him and he would not be able to see her was making her lose it little by little. Because of this incident, the life-long bond they had vowed to uphold to one another was on the verge of splitting. And it had lasted perfectly for only one year...

After a few moments of rubbing Shining Armor's hoof, Cadance could not hold it in any longer. Tears fell from the closed lids, dripping down to stain the floor. She threw herself forward, burying her face in her forelegs and his chest to stifle the sobs that wracked her body. Rage, grief, the desire for vengeance and the fear of being left alone by her beloved swirled around in her head like a cyclone. But in the eye of the storm was the feeling of helplessness – the very same feeling that she had felt when forced to watch Shining Armor put under Chrysalis's spell. There were a million options she had, but she just did not know what to pick. All she could do was sit by the side of her husband and cry.

"Please, Shining Armor... please, wake up... you can't die... please don't die..."

* * *

><p>All Spike could do was walk over to the crying Twilight and place a hand on her shoulder, his expression showing a sibling's concern. "Twilight..."<p>

"Who could've done this?" Twilight asked hoarsely through her tears, though the question was directed to no one at all. "Who would be so cruel as to suddenly attack somepony like my brother?" She slapped her hooves onto her shut eyes, nearly sinking to the floor. It had been only a few months since Shining Armor and Cadance had come back from their honeymoon, and now he was put in a coma? It was nothing but madness.

The small dragon could do nothing but remain silent and watch the unicorn spill out her emotions. It was times like this that he felt truly helpless to do anything. What more could he say, other than "everything was going to be all right"? So he pulled his hand away from her shoulder, walking back over to the fallen letter and picking it up in order to check for anything else. When he found the spot where Twilight left off, his eyes widened slightly in surprise. But he didn't hesitate to read.

"I have tried to calm the populace of Canterlot as best as I could. But there are several residents who demand that they be relocated to Ponyville, despite the Royal Guard insistence on them staying within their homes. They will be arriving within Ponyville a week from now. Due to your exceptional organization skills and your position in the Winter Wrap Ups, I am having you assist the mayor in helping the new arrivals in place. I apologize for the sudden demand of work in such circumstances, but you're one of the few available who can get it done. Your thoughtful mentor, Princess Celestia."

Twilight drew in a breath before sighing heavily, blinking away the tears and slowly standing up to her hooves. "I..." She muttered, having to pause for a moment to regain herself. "I can't just sit here and mope. If this is Princess Celestia's request, then I must honor it. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I have a chance at going back to Canterlot to visit him, as well as Cadance."

Spike blinked. "Well, I can understand Shining Armor... but why Cadance, too?" He questioned.

"Well, gee, I don't know..." Despite the innocent tone, the unicorn couldn't help but be sarcastic. "Maybe it's because it's because her husband's in a coma and that she's gonna be really upset about it?" Her bluntness was enough to make the dragon cringe in embarrassment, a small blush forming on his face to emphasize.

"Oh...right. Sorry." He muttered, before straightening up. "What are you gonna do about the preparations?"

"I'm going to ask Mayor Mare about the situation before I do anything." As she was explaining, Twilight walked past Spike and towards the door. "In the meantime, do you think you can inform my friends?"

Quickly, Spike issued her a military salute, grinning all the while. "Of course!"

"Good." Twilight couldn't help but grin in amusement at his antics. "Meet me back here and bring them with you."

"Yes, ma'am!"

With that being said, Twilight pushed open the door and stepped out, leaving it open for Spike to go through while heading in the direction of where Mayor Mare's house.


End file.
